Bogotá.- The President of Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, stated that the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that shook most of the country this Monday has left a partial toll of 111 dead and widespread destruction in at least five departments.
“At 12:30 (17:30 GMT) we had 111 dead, 87 injured, 1,575 damaged homes, 37 completely destroyed, 61 collapsed buildings, 18 damaged health centers and 52 damaged educational centers,” said De la Espriella in Bogotá, in his first public statement after the earthquake, in which he declared a “national disaster” throughout the country.
The president added that 18 roads were affected by the earthquake, as well as seven airports -Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó, Armenia, Cartago, Cali and Buenaventura-, which suffered damage to their infrastructure and remain closed and without operation for commercial flights.
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De la Espriella will travel this afternoon to Quibdó, the capital of Chocó, the department that was the epicenter of the earthquake, to personally attend to the emergency, while other members of his cabinet will travel to the Valle del Cauca department and the Coffee Axis, the areas most affected by the earthquake.
“The first thing is the rescue of the people who are under the rubble. That is the priority,” stated the president, who is in his third day of government after having taken office last Friday, August 7.
The 7.4 magnitude earthquake, according to the Colombian Geological Service (SGC), was felt at 07:34 local time (12:34 GMT) and had its epicenter in the municipality of San José del Palmar, in Chocó, at a depth of 82 kilometers, causing damage in a large part of the center and west of the country.
