The death toll climbs from Monday's 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Colombia

4 days ago 12

Hundreds of rescue workers have been deployed in hardest hit cities trying to free victims still trapped under the rubble. Hundreds of people are still missing. Transcript AILSA CHANG, HOST: The death toll from the powerful earthquake that hit western Colombia on Monday now stands at almost 200 people. But hundreds are still missing, with many people trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings. In Cali, the country's third largest city and the one hardest hit by the quake, authorities have imposed a nighttime curfew to prevent looting while Colombia's new president has traveled there to assess the damage. We go now to reporter John Otis in Bogota. Hi, John.JOHN OTIS, BYLINE: Hello.CHANG: So this was a really strong earthquake, magnitude 7.4. Can you just give people a sense of how widespread the damage is as it looks now?OTIS: Well, Colombia's two largest cities, Bogota and Medellín, were spared, but the quake struck towns and villages from the Pacific Coast Department of Choco all the way to the coffee-growing region in the Andes Mountains. Hardest hit were the provincial capitals of Pereira and Manizales as well as Cali, which is home to 2 million people. Right now, the race ...

Read Entire Article






<