What are the main obstacles to earthquake rescue and aid efforts in Colombia?
The biggest barriers to reaching survivors of Colombia's magnitude 7.4 earthquake are geographical: poor road conditions in remote regions, a near-total absence of airports outside major cities, and the threat of landslides in the mountainous coffee-growing zone around Pereira. While Cali benefits from a major international airport that allows rapid aid delivery, large parts of the affected territory — particularly in the Chocó region — are only reachable by truck on degraded roads, and even helicopter access is difficult in many small towns.
The town of San Jose del Palmar, the community closest to the earthquake's epicenter, sits on a mountain ridge with no airport access whatsoever. This means aid and rescue teams must rely entirely on ground transport over roads that were already in poor condition before the disaster struck. In the Chocó region, approximately 1,400 families are estimated to have lost their homes — a population now eligible for a presidential rent subsidy, but one that remains exceptionally hard to reach in practice.
In the Pereira area, where at least 55 people were killed and at least 15 buildings still had people potentially trapped under rubble at the time of reporting, the mountainous terrain of the coffee axis creates an additional risk of landslides. This compounds the difficulty of moving rescue equipment and personnel into position quickly. To hear the full on-the-ground reporting from Up First, including accounts from rescue workers and volunteers digging through rubble, the episode is available on Listenly.
"The town of San Jose del Palmar, closest to the epicenter, sits on a mountain ridge with no airport access whatsoever."
Reported on Up First from NPR, August 11, 2026See also
The earthquake killed more than 130 people, with authorities saying the death toll is likely to rise. The hardest-hit cities include Cali, Pereira, and Manizales, with dozens of buildings destroyed and hundreds of families displaced.
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