Search efforts in Colombia enter ‘final phase’ as quake toll reaches 265 

Rescue efforts in Colombia following Monday’s devastating earthquake have entered what officials called the “final phase” as the death toll rose to 265, with more than 3,500 others wounded.

Rescue crews on Wednesday were fast approaching the 72-hour mark since the quake, the period during which survivors are considered most likely to be found alive beneath collapsed buildings.

The magnitude 7.4 earthquake was the strongest to hit Colombia this century. Nearly 500 people remain missing, according to local authorities, and more than 9,550 homes have been destroyed.

Pereira, in the heart of Colombia’s coffee region, and Cali, the country’s third-largest city, reported 83 and 74 deaths, respectively.

“We’re entering the final phase,” Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder said on Wednesday. “That doesn’t mean there won’t be survivors afterwards, but it is more difficult.”

President Abelardo de La Espriella promised to establish an emergency fund to help rebuild hospitals, schools, homes and infrastructure destroyed by the earthquake.

“This is undoubtedly a tragedy of immense proportions,” said de La Espriella, who was inaugurated just three days before the quake struck. “Our efforts are focused on those who remain missing.”

De La Espriella also declared an economic emergency to address the damage caused by the earthquake, though he did not specify what measures this would entail.

In Pereira, crews focused on a collapsed bakery where they believe a street vendor trapped since Monday’s earthquake may still be alive beneath the rubble.

Using equipment that detects vibrations, rescuers said they had picked up possible signs of life from Pablo Loaiza, prompting anxious relatives to gather outside the wreckage.

“They tell us it could be him,” 16-year-old Sara Loaiza, his niece, told the AFP news agency. “My heart is about to burst out of my chest.”

Relatives said the trapped man appeared to respond when rescuers asked him to knock twice, then three times from beneath the rubble.

Many Colombians have mobilised to help, bringing water, food and supplies to affected neighborhoods, while long lines formed outside blood donation centers.

In Cali, emergency crews prepared to work through a third night with their bare hands, cranes and sniffer dogs – stopping not to rest, but to listen for signs of life.

“Every half hour we make everyone be quiet to see if we can find people alive,” volunteer rescuer Johana Sanchez told the AFP news agency. “So far, three people have been pulled out alive and three dead.”

At the Torres del Limonar complex in southern Cali, residents formed long bucket brigades, with soldiers, employees of the mayor’s office and others handing down rubble from the peak of the debris.

Camilo Cano, a fire department official from Bogota, told the Reuters news agency that rescue efforts had become more organised after police began restricting the number of volunteers on site, which helped reduce noise and vibrations and allowed sensors to better detect movement under the debris.

President de La Espriella, who won a narrow victory against the candidate of the prior leftist government on a platform centred on less public spending and tougher security, travelled to the affected regions early this week.

“The earthquake will be the first test for the new Colombian president,” Tiziano Breda, senior analyst for Latin America and the Caribbean at the conflict monitoring group ACLED, told the AFP.

“De La Espriella ran on a platform to cut public finances, including defunding the state’s risk management unit,” he added. “This unit is currently at the forefront of the emergency response.”