A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Colombia on Monday morning, killing at least 111 people and leaving many others missing, as rescue workers searched through collapsed buildings for survivors.
Video from Pereira airport captured the moment of the quake, showing violent shaking that sent people running in panic as the structure began to come apart around them. The footage, reported by Al Jazeera, showed the scale of destruction the tremor caused even in large public buildings.
Search and rescue teams moved quickly into the affected areas following the strike, but the death toll continued to mount as workers reached collapsed structures across the region. CBS News reported that many people remained unaccounted for in the hours after the quake.
The earthquake struck just days after Colombia inaugurated a new president, adding pressure to the incoming administration to coordinate a national emergency response. The Wall Street Journal noted the timing of the disaster relative to the political transition.
World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit disaster relief organization, announced it was responding to the earthquake. The group typically deploys to disaster zones to provide meals to survivors and rescue workers in the immediate aftermath of large-scale emergencies.
Colombia sits along a seismically active zone in South America, making it vulnerable to significant earthquakes. A tremor of 7.4 magnitude is considered a major earthquake capable of causing widespread structural damage across a broad area.
Rescue operations were ongoing Monday as workers continued to dig through rubble in search of survivors.
