President de la Espriella Updates Death Toll to 111 From Devastating Earthquake; Buildings Collapse, Airports Shut in Western Colombia

A woman is transported on a stretcheer after being rescued from a collapsed building due to an earthquake in Cali, Colombia on August 10, 2026. A powerful earthquake rocked Colombia and neighboring Latin American countries on August 10, 2026, with medical teams rushing to help victims after buildings were damaged or collapsed in several cities. The Colombian geological service and its American counterpart USGS put the magnitude at 7.4, with an epicenter 100 km (60 miles) underground in the west of the country. Colombia had initially put it at 6.6. (Credit: Photo by JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP via Getty Images)

A death toll that keeps moving

A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia at 7:34 a.m. local time on Monday, centered near San José del Palmar, a Chocó department town of roughly 4,800 people, according to USGS's event page and Colombia's own geological service. The confirmed and official death toll has climbed unevenly through the day but now sits at 111, a total announced by Colombia's president Abelardo de la Espriella who was citing Colombia's Association of Capital Cities.