Bogotá.- The Vice President of Colombia, José Manuel Restrepo, announced this Monday a donation from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) of 700,000 dollars in total to help the South American country address the crisis unleashed by the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that shook central and western Colombia today.
“The World Bank has made available grant resources of 200,000 dollars in non-reimbursable cooperation, that is, without credit, for damage assessment; the Inter-American Development Bank (announced) 500,000 dollars in non-reimbursable technical cooperation grants,” explained Restrepo.
Of this last amount, the vice president highlighted that there is “immediate access for the Red Cross of 350,000 dollars and 150,000 for technical support”, which arrive to support these crucial hours that have passed since the seismic movement affected the departments of Valle del Cauca, Risaralda, Chocó, and Caldas this morning.
These 700,000 dollars of international support are in addition to the 500,000 dollars in humanitarian donation for direct support already announced by CAF (Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean).
You can also read:
“With these three entities, we now have the possibility of opening lines of rapid-disbursement credit resources to address emergencies like this one,” indicated the vice president.
The earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.4 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 103 kilometers, and caused damage in a large part of the center and west of the country.
So far, the damage report is 132 dead, 570 injured, and more than 1,500 homes damaged.
