Cali closes the rescue phase after 140 hours and moves to clearing rubble
Authorities in Cali declared the search and rescue phase over a week after the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck western Colombia, following more than 140 hours of continuous operations. Teams deployed in the capital of Valle del Cauca department are now focused on recovering the last bodies located and on removing rubble.
Following a magnitude 7.4 earthquake in western Colombia, the search and rescue phase in Cali concluded after 140 hours of continuous operations. The city's mayor, Alejandro Eder, announced that the remaining focus would shift to clearing rubble and restoring affected sites, while also supporting the families of victims. Authorities recovered 25 bodies from the Torres del Limonar residential complex, with three more expected to be extracted on Sunday.
The recovery efforts involved fire crews from Cali, Bogotá, and Jamundí, navy and police rescue units, and specialists from the Israel Defense Forces. Israel's Major Roni Kaplan stated that his teams would remain in the city until all rescues were complete and that they would collaborate with local authorities to assist in the reconstruction phase.
Eder estimated that the city would require 10 trillion pesos (approximately 3.2 billion dollars) and three years to stabilize and carry out a resilient reconstruction. He mentioned proposing an exceptional financing mechanism akin to a previous one set up after the 1999 earthquake and pledged an initial contribution of one trillion pesos from Cali, which was already committed.
The national assessment recorded 289 deaths, 4,187 injuries, and 143 people missing across 450 municipalities in 15 departments in Colombia.
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