The roar of the earth as about twenty buildings collapsed in Cali

More than 26 structures collapsed. A situation that adds to the collapse of two bridges and the Juanchaco pier, one of the tourist beaches in Buenaventura. Debris in Cali Photo: Samir RojasJOURNALIST10.08.2026 19:08 Updated: 10.08.2026 19:08 The silence of 7:34 in the morning was broken by a subtle but macabre sway in Cali. I was in my room when the ceiling lamp began to sway from side to side, casting shadows on the walls. I froze, feeling the earth continue to move. At first, as almost always happens in this seismic region, I thought it would pass quickly, as it did almost 11 years ago, when a 5.7 earthquake shook the Valle capital. But this time, the quake did not stop. There was another shake, a seconds-long scare. But the swaying turned into an earthquake, amid screams from my neighbors three floors above. My building, including the terrace, is five stories high, where a wall collapsed. In seconds, the ground in Cali stopped being firm and became a violent mass that shook everything. My first thought was not to save an object, a wallet, or the phone; it was to find my little dog. Living alone with her means her life depends entirely on mine. I found her paralyzed with panic. She was howling. I took her in my arms, holding her against my chest with a strength I didn’t know I had, determined not to let her go no matter what happened. Earthquake in Colombia. Cali, among the most affected cities in the country. Photo: Juan Pablo Rueda / EL TIEMPO I hid under the dining table, watching porcelain and bottles fall from the shelves around me. Everything was breaking into pieces. Decorations shattered on the floor and the walls cracked open in two. Taking a single step was a battle against gravity. I remained under the dining table. It was my refuge. There, hugging my pet amidst the dust and the noise, my mind traveled back in time. Panic brought me the gruesome images of the Venezuela earthquake: collapsed buildings, cries for help, and the fragility of human life in the face of nature’s fury. I told myself: ‘This is it.’ At that moment, under the table, I understood I was no longer just a news spectator; I was living the story. When the movement stopped, the silence that returned was not of peace, but of absolute shock. I went out into the street with my heart in my throat, still holding my little dog, to face a reality that surpassed any nightmare. In Cali, collective panic was in the air as sirens from firefighters and ambulances echoed through the space. Social media began to show the magnitude of the tragedy little by little. What had been a panic scare and broken objects in my apartment outside was a catastrophe. Cali’s mayor, Alejandro Eder, confirmed a preliminary terrifying balance: more than 26 buildings collapsed in the city. Valle del Cauca was breaking apart. Over the hours, the anguish turned into collective pain. Damage in Cali from the earthquake on August 10. Photo: Juan Pablo Rueda / EL TIEMPO “In Cali, we have 26 buildings collapsed and rescue teams identified in 10 of them. We have asked for help from other cities, such as Bogotá and Medellín, and have formed 16 evaluation teams,” said Eder. “I ask the citizens to stay in their homes to keep the roads clear. We will receive water, construction gloves, and safety glasses. We have a collection point at Jairo Varela square, in northern Cali,” added the mayor. The leader said that mattresses are being requested. During moments of distress, I learned that my colleague Juan Pablo Rueda’s family, a photojournalist for EL TIEMPO, lost their house completely in the disaster. He cried on camera reporting what happened, a pain that burdens dozens of families in the region. My neighbor, Doña Mercedes Araújo, could not leave her apartment because her sister is on an oxygen bed. “I’ve never felt this before. I felt like I was dying with my little sister.” In neighborhoods in the north, such as La Flora, Prados del Norte, Vipasa, La Campiña, San Vicente, the Pacará sector, and the homes in Brisas de los Álamos, on the outskirts of Cali towards Yumbo, they lost power since the quake. Earthquake and damage in Cali and Pereira Photo: taken from social media video “My sister depends on the light to stay connected to the oxygen pump. I have this backup, but I don’t think it will last long. Hopefully, the blackout doesn’t extend,” my neighbor commented. Valle del Cauca was breaking apart. Over the hours, the anguish turned into collective pain. The official report from authorities began to confirm the worst suspicions, recording more than 30 fatalities across the department, four of them dead under the rubble of this capital, according to the Mayor’s Office. However, the most painful figure, the one that tightens the chest and makes you realize the true cruelty of the quake, came from neighboring municipalities. The governor of Valle, Dilian Francisca Toro, reported that in Calima El Darién, the fall of a wall took the lives of three children. In Yumbo, the tragedy repeated, claiming another minor’s life. The governor also said she visited the Valle University Hospital (HUV), one of the seven clinics affected, with damage such as collapsed walls and cracks throughout the city. “The most painful, four children, three in Calima El Darién, one in Yumbo, and another girl very seriously injured,” noted the Valle governor. She also reported the destruction of houses and buildings in all 42 municipalities of Valle del Cauca. The earthquake destroyed the iconic church of Calima-El Darién Photo: Private Archive “In the municipality of El Cairo, 80% is destroyed, the El Águila hospital collapsed. In Zarzal, there are many injured, the hospital is overwhelmed in Zarzal. In Cartago, the hospital had to evacuate patients, but thank God, no one died,” the governor specified. “We are at the Valle University Hospital, where there is a major collapse, damages inside the hospital. One wing collapsed, and we still have five patients under the rubble. We are trying to evacuate them; the army and firefighters are there, trying to rescue these patients who were also in critical condition in the neurocardiovascular intensive care unit,” Toro narrated. In Buenaventura, the Juanchaco pier and two bridges collapsed, said the governor. At the Valle University Hospital (HUV), which receives nearly 11,000 people daily for medical care and has 3,800 staff, 1,800 were on shift at the time of the earthquake. Efforts were still underway to evacuate all 600 patients and move them to the hospital gardens, considered safe zones. Cali, among the most affected cities by the August 10 earthquake. Photo: Samir Rojas The manager of Valle University Hospital, Irne Torres Castro, called on the community and rescue institutions not to transfer patients to the health center, as the hospital is facing a crisis caused by damage to its infrastructure, which prevents it from receiving more patients. “We have had to evacuate 100 percent of the patients to the hospital gardens. We still have some patients trapped. We are estimating possible fatalities. We want to call on the community and rescue institutions not to bring patients to the hospital at this moment because we have our own crisis with the patients here and wouldn’t be able to respond to more,” said the manager. Today, while Cali tries to clear the debris from its collapsed structures, survivors carry the weight of memory. The ground stopped moving, but the creak from that August morning will resonate as how the Earth moved beneath our feet. Carolina Bohórquez Ramírez, EL TIEMPO correspondent Follow all Colombia news on Facebook and Twitter, or in our weekly newsletter. EL TIEMPO NEWSLETTERS Register for our newsletters and receive news in your email according to your interests. Stay informed about what truly matters to you. EL TIEMPO GOOGLE NEWS Follow us on GOOGLE NEWS. Stay always updated with the latest news, coverage, stories, and analysis directly on Google News. EL TIEMPO WHATSAPP Join the EL TIEMPO channel on WhatsApp to stay up to date with the most relevant news at the moment. EL TIEMPO APP Stay informed with the EL TIEMPO app. Receive the latest news, coverage, stories, and analysis directly on your device. SUBSCRIBE TO THE DIGITAL Reliable information for you. Subscribe to EL TIEMPO and access our journalistic content unlimitedly.