By ASTRID SUÁREZ, MEGAN JANETSKY and MARKO ALVAREZ
PEREIRA, Colombia (AP) — The search for survivors in the rubble of Colombia’s powerful earthquake grew more desperate on Wednesday, two days after the quake brought down buildings, buckled roads and crushed cars.
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The devastation has tested Colombia’s new President Abelardo de la Espriella and his government as it scrambles to respond to the natural disaster and civil society as it pushes to provide aid to the vulnerable communities most affected by the quake.
By Tuesday, de la Espriella said the 7.4 magnitude earthquake had killed at least 181 people and left 2,595 more injured in the west of the country. He said at least 195 remained missing, but civilian-run databases put that number closer to 4,000.
Teams continued to pick through the rubble overnight in the hardest-hit cities of Cali, Pereira, Manizales and Quibdo, as time ticked away for victims to be found — and rescued — alive.
Patients from a clinic evacuated due to earthquake damage lie in beds at a temporary facility set up in a gymnasium at a nearby school in Cali, Colombia, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
Volunteers and rescue workers use buckets to remove debris of a collapsed building a day after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
The map above shows the epicenter and shake intensity from a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Colombia on Aug. 10. (AP Digital Embed)
Neighbors embrace as rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed apartment building the day after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Aid agencies consider the first 48 to 72 hours crucial for retrieving survivors, though that threshold can be extended if they have access to food and water.
There have been fleeting moments of hope amid the devastation: rescuers pulling a baby covered in dust through a hole in a concrete wall, and onlookers cheering as teams lifted a woman onto a stretcher.
In many areas, the official response to the disaster has been complicated by the ongoing crises of deep poverty and civil warfare that has forced displacement for decades.
“This earthquake compounds an already severe humanitarian situation, and there is a need for increased support for the humanitarian response,” said Giovanni Rizzo, Colombia director for the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Many aid organizations were already on the ground at the epicenter of the quake in Colombia, supporting a 2016 peace accord between the government and leftist rebels and responding to violence involving other armed groups that has persisted since then, particularly in Choco.
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That presence allowed humanitarian workers to quickly pivot to disaster relief, said María José Torres, the U.N. resident coordinator in Colombia.
“We have a presence on the ground. Therefore, our ability to be there, present with the people, I think, has increased exponentially,” Torres said in a statement Tuesday.
At the same time, aid from other countries and nonprofits abroad continued to roll in.
The U.S. has offered over $15 million in aid and Mexico’s president said she is prepared to send hundreds of search and health workers, tons of health supplies and other equipment.
On Tuesday afternoon, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said his country would send two planes loaded with 100 tons of aid in the coming days.
“Our prayers are with the families of the victims, the wounded and all the Colombian people,” Bukele wrote on X.
Suarez reported from Bogota, Colombia, and Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Manuel Rueda in Bogota contributed to this report.
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