Officials in Colombia are reporting dozens deaths, injuries, people trapped inside collapsed buildings and serious damage after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake shook western Colombia and the region Monday morning.The quake’s epicenter was reported in the municipality of San José del Palmar in the department of Chocó.In Valle del Cauca, about 254 miles south of Chocó, Gov.
Dilian Francisca Toro said “the situation is serious.”She reported the deaths of 27 people across Valle Del Cauca, including three children.Speaking from the University Hospital of the Valley, Toro said that the facility suffered “structural collapses” and that rescue and evacuation operations were underway.In Chocó, Gov.
Nubia Carolina Córdoba-Curi said on social media that injuries and serious damage to buildings have been reported in the capital city of Quibdó, about 188 miles northwest of the reported epicenter.“We are already conducting a damage assessment to issue the first official report,” Córdoba-Curi wrote on X in Spanish.As of 10:43 a.m., Córdoba-Curi reported four deaths and 69 people injured in Chocó.Add NBC News to GoogleSearch for survivors underway after 7.4-magnitude earthquake hits Colombia02:39Alejandro Eder, mayor of Cali, said that at least 20 buildings have collapsed in the city “with people trapped inside.” Emergency response teams have already begun to set tents in the area to coordinate rescue efforts, Eder added.Cali resident Luis Angel Sarrio told NBC News Cali he strongly felt the earthquake there.“There are many damaged buildings, collapsed buildings, people trapped, and fatalities; the quake felt here was very severe,” Sarrio, a taxi driver, said in Spanish.“What has happened here in my country has been very hard and very sad.”While Sarrio and his immediate family are safe, he said, “we are saddened by the loss of life.”According to Colombia’s civil aviation authority, airports in Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó, Armenia, Cartago a...