PEREIRA, Colombia (AP) — Search and rescue efforts resumed Tuesday in dozens of cities and towns in western Colombia after a powerful earthquake left over 3,000 missing, with many trapped under the debris.
Mayors and governors from Cali, Pereira, Choco and Manizalez said Tuesday at least 179 people had died in those four areas; the federal government, which last updated its estimates in the hours after the 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Monday, has said at least 111 died.
Around 1,600 buildings across the region have been reported damaged or collapsed.
Soldiers, rescue personnel and families picked through the rubble, passing large pieces of concrete by hand along lines of volunteers.
Standing near the remains of his brother’s collapsed apartment building in Pereira, Jairo Vargas said he made the 220-kilometre (135-mile) drive from Medellin, hoping to find him alive.
“I’m absolutely certain he’s here. Absolutely certain,” Vargas said, adding that his brother’s car was parked outside. But he fears his sibling did not survive.
“The debris surrounding my brother is soft,” he said, as heavy machinery rumbled through the debris.
“It’s possible that it’s protecting him, but we can’t hear any noises anymore. I don’t know. I have little hope.”
Choco, the region surrounding the quake’s epicenter, is one of Colombia’s poorest and most neglected regions, often beset by warring armed groups.
Much of Choco is accessible only by boat, through the jungle or by airplane. Little was known about the extent of damage there.
President Abelardo De la Espriella, who was inaugurated just days earlier, traveled to Choco’s capital, Quibdo, on Monday night and announced he was mobilising “the entire military and police apparatus” to respond, deploying engineers, rescue workers and search dogs.
“Choco will never again be the ‘land of the forgotten,’” he said.
The earthquake presents the first major test for de la Espriella, who is a divisive figure because of his pledge to crack down on criminal groups in the Andean nation.
Families posted information about missing loved ones on citizen-run websites.
The earthquake left many people unnerved after back-to-back quakes devastated neighbouring Venezuela in late June, destroying hundreds of buildings and killing more than 6,300 people.
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