BOGOTA: A powerful earthquake rocked Colombia and neighboring Latin American countries on Monday, with at least 18 people confirmed dead in first reports as shocked residents surveyed destroyed buildings. Emergency teams rushed to help victims and search for survivors in the rubble after geologists recorded the quake at a magnitude of 7.4 with an epicenter 100km deep in the west of the country.

Colombia had initially put the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.6.

More than 80 people were killed and hundreds injured after a powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, flattening buildings and...