Pereira (Colombia) (AFP) – The chances of finding earthquake survivors in Colombia dropped significantly on Friday, four days after the 7.4-magnitude tremor struck, though rescue efforts plowed ahead as hundreds remained missing. Volunteers and rescuers persevered with the grueling task of digging through the rubble, looking for any signs of life after the critical 72-hour window passed. The strongest quake to hit the South American nation this century devastated the western cities of Cali and Pereira and destroyed nearly 13,000 homes across the coffee-growing region and along the coast. At least 287 people are dead, while thousands more are injured and some 379 people are unaccounted for, President Abelardo de la Espriella said Thursday.
Hernan Giraldo, after days of searching for his son amid the ruins of a hotel in Pereira, found his body Friday afternoon. Juan Felipe Giraldo, 24, had been due to get married on Sunday. Elsewhere in the city, an elderly priest made his way through the debris, embracing exhausted rescue teams. “Silent hearts, bowed heads, sad eyes,” Father Nelson Giraldo, 72, observed mournfully.
De la Espriella has faced a tough first week in office, with multiple cities shattered by the tremor and the government yet to publish reconstruction cost estimates. The new president has declared an “economic emergency” and spent the week visiting impacted cities, promising rent subsidies to those who lost their homes. “The situation is apocalyptic,” he said in Pereira. Visiting the impoverished, quake-hit Choco region, he said he wanted to implement a “Marshall Plan” for the area, referring to the US program to rebuild Europe after World War II. “Amid all this tragedy, there is a tremendous opportunity,” the president, who campaigned as a political outsider, said. “Choco has been left to fend for itself by the centralized power in Bogota.”
The World Bank said Friday it was disbursing $200 million for the disaster response, as well as a mechanism to assess economic losses to help “prioritize aid and reconstruction efforts.” The US State Department meanwhile announced an aid package worth $11 million, on top of the $15.5 million already pledged. Colombia has also accepted aid from fellow right-wing administrations in El Salvador, Ecuador, and Israel, while rejecting the help of rescuers from leftist-led Mexico. The government denies rejecting aid on ideological grounds.
In some places, the stench of decaying bodies has crept into the air. The quake damaged a morgue in Colombia’s third-largest city Cali, which currently counts the most fatalities. Bodies are instead being transported to the nearby city of Palmira, where dozens of people have gathered, hoping for news of missing loved ones. Luis Arturo Rios, 70, heard that his friend’s body was there, and rushed to find out for himself. “We’re waiting to recover the body so we can bury her,” he told AFP.
Hundreds of families have been setting up makeshift camps in public spaces after losing their homes. Patricia Romero, who has bedded down with her two children in a soccer field in Cali, said her eight-year-old son had started fainting “from nerves.” “Any movement, anything that scares him, my boy faints, he just collapses,” Romero, 26, told AFP.
Hundreds of volunteers hurried through the packed parking lot next to Bogota’s largest stadium, forming human chains to pass donated water bottles, food provisions, sanitary products, and bedding to the sorting area. The diligent crowd occasionally burst into applause or cheered each other on to keep spirits high. Luz Mary Gonzalez, a teacher, sat on the ground with a dozen more volunteers, writing messages of solidarity to be slotted into donation boxes. “We are happy to do our small part,” she told AFP. “Our hearts are with them…They can count on us.”
© 2024 AFP
