A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 47 people, trapping residents under debris of collapsed buildings and forcing people to evacuate their homes as far as the capital of Bogotá.
The epicenter was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in the Choco region about 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Bogota, the U.S. Geological Survey and Colombia’s counterpart reported.
The USGS said it struck at a depth of 66 miles (107 kilometers). The quake also was felt in neighboring Ecuador and Panama, though minimal damage was reported there.
Local officials confirmed that at least 18 people had been killed in the city of Pereira, two in the city of Manizales, and 27 people in the Valle del Cauca department, where Colombia’s third-biggest city, Cali, is located. At least three killed in Valle del Cauca were children, the governor said.
