A powerful earthquake shook western Colombia early on Monday morning, with reports of the tremors being felt in the capital Bogota and even far south across the border in Quito in Ecuador.
The epicenter was on the eastern tip of the Choco province on Colombia's Pacific coast.What did officials say as first responses?
"We have just experienced a severe seismic event in the department of Choco. We are concerned about aftershocks," the governor of the Choco region, Nubia Carolina Cordoba-Curi, said online.
"Although the epicenter was in San Jose del Palmar, in the capital Quibdo there are injuries and severe damage to buildings. We are already conducting the damage assessment to issue the first official report," Cordoba-Curi said. Quibdo is home to around 150,000 people.
The mayor of Cali, Alejandro Eder, said that at least 20 buildings had collapsed, in some cases with people trapped inside.
