Colombia: Thousands missing after the 7,4 magnitude earthquake

Two days after a magnitude 7,4 earthquake struck western Colombia, rescue teams are searching through the rubble of collapsed buildings for survivors. Hundreds of people have died and thousands remain missing.

Search operations continue relentlessly in western Colombia, where a 7,4 magnitude earthquake has wreaked havoc. Forty-eight hours after the quake, the human toll remains difficult to establish precisely: hundreds of deaths have been confirmed, while thousands of people remain missing.

Hospitals in the region are struggling to cope with the influx of injured people. Shortages of medical supplies are exacerbating an already critical situation for healthcare teams, overwhelmed by the number of victims requiring treatment.

Communication outages pose an additional obstacle for rescue workers. These interruptions slow down the coordination of operations and complicate the assessment of the true extent of the damage in the hardest-hit areas.