Magnitude 7.4 earthquake — San José del Palmar, Colombia
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck near San José del Palmar in Colombia’s Chocó department at 07:34 local time on 10 August 2026. The US Geological Survey located it about 5 km south of the town, at a depth of roughly 110 km; Colombia’s Geological Service reported a 103 km depth. The shaking was reported across much of Colombia and also in Panama and Venezuela. Colombia’s Geological Service said the maximum reported intensity reached VII, associated with severe damage, and recorded 18 aftershocks by midday, with more considered possible.
Damage was concentrated across western and central Colombia, including Cali, Pereira, Quibdó and Manizales, where buildings were damaged or collapsed and rescue operations were launched. The Colombian government declared an emergency to speed recovery funding. A later bulletin cited by Cadena SER, dated 20 August, put the provisional toll at 314 deaths, 4,437 injuries and 262 people missing; it also reported extensive housing, transport, health and education damage. Those figures remained subject to revision as assessments and searches continued.
- Magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck near San José del Palmar on 10 August 2026.
- Severe shaking caused widespread damage in western and central Colombia.
- Later provisional reports put the death toll at 314, with searches continuing.
Full account
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia on the morning of 10 August, with its epicentre located near the town of San José del Palmar in the department of Chocó, on the country's Pacific coastal region. According to Colombia's Servicio Geológico Colombiano (SGC), the tremor occurred at 7:34am local time at a depth of roughly 103 kilometres, and it has since been described by the agency as the most powerful seismic event recorded in Colombia so far this century.
In the hours following the main shock, the SGC reported that its national monitoring network — comprising more than 200 seismic stations spread across the country — had detected 18 aftershocks, with further tremors considered likely. The agency also noted that its 'Sismo Sentido' online reporting tool had received accounts from over 12,000 people across some 900 towns and villages who said they had felt the earthquake, an indication of how widely the shaking was experienced well beyond the immediate epicentre.
Ten days on, the human and material toll became clearer through a bulletin issued by Colombia's national disaster management authority, the Unidad Nacional para la Gestión del Riesgo de Desastres (UNGRD). By its most recent count, the earthquake had killed 314 people, left 262 others unaccounted for, and injured 4,437, while rescue teams had pulled 364 people from rubble or otherwise brought them to safety. The agency estimated that roughly 147,000 families — around 262,000 individuals in total — had been affected across 471 municipalities spanning 15 of Colombia's 32 departments.
The UNGRD figures also pointed to extensive structural damage: more than 30,000 homes destroyed and a further 137,000 damaged, alongside 302 buildings that collapsed outright, concentrated mainly in the cities of Cali and Pereira. Damage was also recorded at hundreds of health facilities, thousands of schools and community centres, and various roads, water systems, bridges and airports, with the departments of Caldas, Quindío and Chocó — where the quake originated — among the worst affected. Officials have described it as the strongest earthquake to hit Colombia in around 25 years.
Where outlets differ
Source 1 (SGC) is a same-day scientific bulletin focused purely on seismic parameters — magnitude, depth, epicentre, aftershock count and the monitoring network — with no casualty or damage figures.
Source 2 (UNGRD) is a humanitarian/disaster-response update issued ten days later, focused on cumulative human and infrastructural impact (deaths, missing, injured, homes and buildings destroyed) rather than seismological detail.
The two sources give different framings of the earthquake's historical significance: the SGC calls it the strongest sismic event in Colombia so far this century, while the UNGRD bulletin describes it as the country's strongest earthquake in roughly 25 years.
Only Source 2 identifies specific cities and departments bearing the brunt of building collapses (Cali and Pereira) and lists the broader set of affected departments; Source 1 mentions only the epicentre location in Chocó.
More coverage
- US Geological Survey — M 7.4 – 5 km S of San José del Palmar, Colombia
- Servicio Geológico Colombiano — Servicio Geológico Colombiano updates information on the earthquake in San José del Palmar, Chocó
- Associated Press — Magnitude 7.4 quake rocks western Colombia, killing at least 111 people
- Cadena SER — Colombia records 314 deaths ten days after magnitude 7.4 earthquake