Two Minutes of Tragedy: 7.4 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Colombia
Your Daily Update for August 11, 2026. Plus: A 7.4 magnitude quake struck Colombia yesterday morning, killing 132 people and destroying thousands of buildings.
Welcome to today’s daily update for Tuesday, August 11, 2026. Here’s everything you need to know.
The Breakdown
The quake struck at 7:34 am, with an epicenter located roughly 40 miles west of the city of Pereira in the Chocó region. The shaking took place near a prominent fault line that snakes through Colombia’s Western Cordillera range, a section of the Andes Mountains, with a depth of around 66 miles. Scientists rank this as an intermediate-depth quake – shallow quakes produce more violent shaking, but deep quakes send shockwaves across a much larger area.
With a magnitude of 7.4, the earthquake was the largest to hit Colombia this century, and many locals reported that it was the most severe they had experienced in their lives.
Due to the location of the epicenter, much of the shaking struck a relatively uninhabited region of western Colombia. However, the remote nature of the region, classified as the Department of Chocó, has made it incredibly hard for authorities to reach the communities hit hardest by the quake.
Additionally, it inflicted serious damage on local communities on the eastern side of the epicenter as well. Major cities like Medellín and the capital, Bogotá, reported intense shaking for almost two minutes, sending residents scrambling from buildings. Mild shaking was even felt in Quito, Ecuador and Panama City, Panama due to the depth of the quake.
The cities of Pereira, Manizales, and Cali were some of the worst-affected by the earthquake. Home to almost 3 million people, Cali is Colombia’s third-largest city, known for its vibrant, high-energy culture and tropical climate. The city is also considered to be the world capital of salsa dancing.
Suddenly, when the shaking began, residents took cover. Many reported hearing buildings collapse during the two minutes of tragedy, thinking that they were explosions.
After the shaking came to a stop, locals cautiously inspected the damage, finding it to be devastating. In Cali alone, 20 buildings collapsed during the shaking, trapping people inside the rubble. Several aftershocks were reported, but none were severe enough to cause serious damage.
Across Colombia, more than 1,600 buildings were damaged, many of which were entirely destroyed. At least 132 people have been confirmed dead, and hundreds of others have been injured. Dozens have been rescued by search-and-rescue crews, who are working nonstop to extract trapped citizens, but the death toll is expected to rise in the coming days as deceased victims are uncovered.
Aid is beginning to flow in from neighboring nations, including the United States, who plan to provide $15.5 million for food, shelter, and other aid for those affected. Mexico, Ecuador, El Salvador, Brazil, and Chile are just a few of those that have promised to assist in recovery efforts. The United Nations is also on the ground, alongside the Colombian Red Cross.
Donate to help local recovery efforts at the Colombian Red Cross using this link.
The quake also comes less than two months after a pair of crippling earthquakes in neighboring Venezuela, which killed more than 6,300 people. Unfortunately, the northwestern region of South America is notoriously susceptible to earthquakes due to tectonic plate activity – on the western side, the Nazca Plate subducts underneath the South American plate, while the Caribbean Plate grinds past the South American plate on the northern edge.
The Global Snapshot
United States President Donald Trump has made yet another move against vaccines, which has been criticized by experts as “dangerous” and “wrong.” Yesterday, Trump announced that he would sign an executive order separating the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine into three distinct shots. Currently, the three are given together in two doses between the ages of 1 and 6, helping protect against three of the worst diseases known to mankind. Health officials are concerned that separating the three could increase the risk of children getting infected before their immunization date, but Trump continues to insist that the vaccines are in some way linked to autism – a belief that has been called out as baseless and irresponsible by various experts.
More than 20 million Shia Muslims have gathered in the holy city of Karbala, Iraq, for the world’s largest gathering: Arbaeen. Another holiday, known as Ashura, commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad – he was seen as the third Imam in Shia Islam and was killed in 680 AD after refusing to pledge allegiance to a corrupt ruler. 40 days later, his family returned to the gravesite on foot, and Shia Muslims walk a 50-mile pilgrimage known as Arbaeen to honor their journey and the Imam. The pilgrimage is completed annually on the 20th day of the Islamic month of Safar – which fell on August 4 of this year – stretching between the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf and the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala.
Fact of the Day (The Fact Site): Antimatter is the most expensive substance on Earth. It costs roughly $62.5 trillion per gram, or $1.75 quadrillion per ounce, but that’s just an estimate – the substance can only be produced using high-energy particle accelerators, requiring 25 million billion kWh (2.5 × 1016 kWh) to produce a single gram. It is not for sale.
Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): It is after all, the dab of grit that seeps into an oyster’s shell that makes the pearl, not pearl-making seminars with other oysters. (Stephen King)
Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Pedagogical (adj, ped-uh-GAH-jih-kul) - Pedagogical is a formal word used to describe things that are of or related to teachers or education.
In a Sentence: The new professor is known for particularly engaging pedagogical methods.
Image: European Commission / CC BY-SA 4.0
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