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At least 18 dead in Colombia earthquake
August 10, 2026
A large earthquake struck western Colombia, killing at least 18 people according to the mayor of Pereira, collapsing buildings and prompting a government emergency response.
AP News reports the fullest account, and the other outlets back most of it. The deadliest fact comes through BBC, which cites Pereira's mayor for a toll of at least 18 dead; cnbc.com carries the same figure. On the response, AP News reports that President Abelardo de la Espriella, only recently sworn in, told the country on Monday he would direct the emergency effort in San José del Palmar himself, and both BBC and cnbc.com corroborate that. Damage reached the coffee country too: per AP News, with BBC in agreement, a tower of the neo-Gothic cathedral in Manizales came down onto the church's nave. Reuters carries the broader account of injuries and destruction along the Pacific coast, while FOX Weather gives the quake a magnitude of 7.4 and locates it on the Pacific Ring of Fire.
The single genuine dispute is a witness scene from Cali. AP News quotes a taxi driver in his sixties, Jorge Moncayo, who watched from his mountainside house as dust rose over the city while buildings gave way. CNN and Reuters carry his account; cnbc.com carries a different account of the scene, and none of the sources explain the gap. Three outlets stand behind the description against one, and since the split touches a single bystander's description rather than the toll or the government response, the heart of the story is unaffected.
Settled: a powerful quake hit western Colombia, the Pereira mayor's count of at least 18 dead, the president's personal command of the response, and the fallen cathedral tower in Manizales. Unsettled: the Cali witness scene, and a damage picture that is still developing.
Still developing
The full extent of injuries and damage across western Colombia is still coming into focus, and the Cali eyewitness account of collapsing buildings remains contested, with cnbc.com carrying a different account than the description carried by AP News, CNN and Reuters.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- AP News — Powerful earthquake shakes Colombia and Ecuador prompting people to evacuate homes and buildings
- BBC — Buildings collapse after magnitude-7.4 earthquake in Colombia
- cnbc.com — Magnitude 7.4 quake on Colombia's Pacific coast causes serious injuries and damage - cnbc.com
- CNN — Live updates: Powerful earthquake sparks evacuations in Colombia
- FOX Weather — Major 7.4 earthquake along the Pacific Ring of Fire jolts western Colombia