A 7.4-magnitude earthquake tore through western Colombia at 7:34 a.m. local time Monday, and by nightfall South Florida's Colombian American community was already mobilizing to help. Elected leaders from Doral and Weston gathered at a Doral relief warehouse to organize donations and emergency supplies for a disaster that Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has confirmed killed at least 111 people, injured more than 460, and damaged over 1,000 structures across the region.
The quake struck near San José del Palmar in the western department of Chocó at a depth of roughly 107 kilometers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and the Colombian Geological Service, as reported by Al Jazeera. President de la Espriella declared a national disaster and state of emergency Monday, just three days after being sworn into office, according to CBS Miami. The station reports that Weston Commissioner Fabio Andrade, who is Colombian American, gathered with other elected leaders at the Global Empowerment Mission facility in Doral to coordinate the response.
Andrade said the immediate priority is getting people out from under the rubble. “Rescue and recovery are the first needs,” he said, per the same account. Colombia's National Unit for Disaster Risk Management reported the quake collapsed 61 buildings, damaged 18 health centers and 52 schools, and forced six regional airports — including those in Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó, Armenia, Cartago, and Buenaventura — to suspend operations due to structural damage and volcanic ash, according to Anadolu Ajansı.
Frantic Calls From Family Back Home
For Francine de la Rosa, a GEM board member from Colombia, Monday's earthquake hit close to home in a way the news coverage alone couldn't capture. She has family in Colombia, and she said the calls from relatives and friends felt different the moment the quake struck. Her family had also canceled a trip to Colombia planned around her father's 80th birthday, the report notes.
Doral Mayor Christi Fraga said GEM's existing infrastructure means the organization does not have to start from scratch. She said GEM can activate quickly and distribute existing emergency supplies to Colombia, according to the same CBS Miami report. GEM teams were already conducting an on-the-ground analysis at what officials described as ground zero in Colombia, the outlet reported.
Local Destruction Mirrors Colombia's Worst Quakes in Decades
Local officials in Colombia reported that at least 20 buildings collapsed in Cali, the country's third-largest city, trapping residents beneath rubble, while in Manizales the spire of the Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica crumbled onto the nave during the tremor, as reported by The Korea Times. The Colombian Geological Service said the 7.4-magnitude quake was the strongest recorded in the country in the last decade and the most destructive in western Colombia since a 1979 temblor.
The disaster lands on a South Florida relief network already stretched thin. Global Empowerment Mission, founded in 2010 by former Miami nightlife entrepreneur Michael Capponi following the Haiti earthquake, had been collecting aid for victims of the twin 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that devastated Venezuela in June, which killed over 5,000 people, according to WLRN. Hoodline previously reported on Tampa firefighters honored for a Venezuela rescue mission tied to that earlier disaster. GEM says it will continue collecting monetary donations and supplies for both the Colombia and Venezuela relief efforts.
Federal Support and a Community With Deep Ties
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration is closely monitoring the disaster and stands ready to support Colombia, while advising American citizens in the country to register with the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, according to AS USA. Florida is home to more than 826,000 Colombian Americans as of 2024, the largest such population of any state, with Colombians making up over 12% of Doral's residents and over 11% of Weston's, per U.S. Census Bureau data cited by Statistical Atlas.
That concentration helps explain why the response in Doral moved so quickly. During GEM's earlier Venezuela relief effort, the U.S. Treasury Department issued General License 60 to authorize humanitarian transactions, according to Just Security, underscoring the regulatory hurdles South Florida groups routinely navigate when sending aid to South America. Whether ground crews can reach the remote epicenter area in Chocó, and how soon international air transport can resume given the airport closures, remain open questions as recovery efforts continue.
