QUIBDÓ, Colombia — Two weeks after a 7.4-magnitude quake tore through western Colombia, President Abelardo de la Espriella stood in Chocó's capital on Monday and declared that the country had moved from emergency response into rebuilding, with the first wave of direct cash aid set to reach displaced families on Wednesday.
The Aug. 10 quake was centered near San José del Palmar in Chocó, and the region has anchored both the search-and-rescue phase and now the recovery effort that follows it. Monday's appearance in Quibdó was De la Espriella's third since the disaster, and it marked the government's first attempt to frame the response as shifting from emergency triage toward long-term reconstruction.
