At 4,800 people, San José del Palmar is not a city that usually makes the headlines. But on Monday, August 10, 2026, the small community in Colombia's Chocó region became the epicentre of something enormous — a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that Colombia's Geological Service called the most powerful recorded in the country this century. The shaking was felt across western Colombia and beyond, rippling as far as Ecuador and Panama.

In Cali, the country's third-largest city, rescue teams and ordinary volunteers formed long human chains, passing chunks of concrete hand over hand to reach those still trapped. "Our building has basically been left in ruins," said Álvaro López, who was watching the search while cradling his dog — the kind of detail that makes statistics feel real. At least 111 people were killed, 87 were injured, and around 1,600 buildings were damaged, including 61 that collapsed entirely. Cities from Pereira to Quibdó to Manizales were all struck.

The geography of the disaster makes recovery even harder. Much of Chocó — one of Colombia's poorest regions, buried deep in dense jungle — can only be reached by boat or plane. Roads do not reach everywhere. That means the true toll may not be known for days.

The situation is made more urgent by what is happening next door: Venezuela is still searching rubble from two powerful earthquakes of its own, just weeks earlier.