Although the critical 72-hour window to find survivors has passed following the powerful earthquake in Colombia, search and rescue operations are still underway in the western region of Risaralda, with coordinators working around the clock and heavy machinery joining the efforts.
A 7.5-magnitude quake jolted cities across Colombia's western region at 07:34 local time on Monday, leaving at least 285 people dead, 3,975 others injured, and 378 missing, according to data released by the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management on Friday.
In its latest update, the agency said the earthquake had affected 15 departments and 437 municipalities, impacting 56,448 families and 135,179 people. In Risaralda, the regional emergency response center has been running 24 hours a day to collect disaster information, assess risks, and coordinate rescue efforts.
"I'm mainly responsible for administrative affairs. I usually work from 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning to 15:30 or 16:00 in the afternoon. But in this emergency situation, we are all on standby 24 hours a day," said Elsa Moscos, an employee at the center.
Meanwhile, Risaralda's Emergency and Urgent Care Regulatory Center has remained in touch with medical institutions across the department to coordinate hospital transfers, patient admissions, and disaster response in real time.
"Since the earthquake on Monday, my job has been to coordinate the transfer and medical treatment of all the injured throughout the department," said Diego Salazar, a coordinator of the agency.
In Pereira, capital of Risaralda, heavy machinery such as dump trucks and excavators have been playing a crucial role in the rescue efforts.
They leave the equipment workshop of the department's secretariat of infrastructure at dawn every day for affected areas around the city.
"This place is crucial, because it's where we store all the department's machinery. They are all dispatched from here on requests from communities or rescuers to clear debris or provide assistance to various localities in the city," said Kelson Trejos, an official of Risaralda's secretariat of machinery.
"We have been in the blocks and many other sites of central Pereira since the earthquake to clear rubble, take part in rescue operations, load debris and then transport them to garbage dumps," said Julio Bermudez, a truck driver.
Rescue efforts continue in Colombia despite crucial 72-hour window passes
