Ana María Saavedra Caycedo lay under the rubble for hours reeling from arm injuries and a fractured pelvis. When she was finally pulled out, it was into a harsh new reality: one where she was the sole survivor of her immediate family.
When the 7.4 magnitude earthquake shook western Colombia on August 10, the Saavedra Caycedo family was in their apartment in Cali, one of the hardest-hit cities.
Search and rescue efforts at the site began immediately and continued for days. Family and friends took to the streets to ask for help and volunteer in the rescue operations.
The triplets, Ana Maria, Sofia and Isabella Saavedra Caycedo; their father Jair Saavedra; their mother Vicky Caycedo and their uncle Diego Caycedo would all be pulled from the debris in the hours and days that followed.
The parents were found embracing in their final moments. Sofia and Diego were found dead too. And Isabella’s body was the last to be pulled from the rubble, the triplets’ cousin Camila Martínez Sierra said.
