Update: At least 132 people have been confirmed dead after a powerful earthquake struck Colombia and was felt in Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela.
Geologists recorded the early-morning earthquake at magnitude 7.4, with an epicentre 100 kilometres underground in western Colombia. Colombia had initially put the magnitude at 6.6.
The deaths were reported in Pereira, where Mayor Mauricio Salazar told Caracol Radio that the situation was critical.
Emergency teams were deployed to assist victims and search for survivors after buildings were damaged or collapsed in several cities.
In Choco province, which was at the epicentre of the quake, Governor Nubia Carolina Córdoba said there was serious damage in the provincial capital, Quibdo. The death toll from the area was not immediately known.
Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder said at least 20 buildings had collapsed in the city, Colombia’s third-largest, with people trapped beneath the rubble. He said officials were using drones to assess the scale of the damage.
News footage also showed destroyed buildings in cities including Manizales.
“There is no electricity or cell phone coverage. It was strong, really strong. Things fell in my house,” Martha Estrada, a 66-year-old resident of the coffee-growing Eje Cafetero region, told AFP.
In Bogota, residents ran into the streets in their pyjamas as emergency sirens sounded. Mayor Carlos Galan said the capital appeared to have suffered limited damage, including cracks to the facades of houses and buildings.
Six small airports in western Colombia suspended operations, the civil aeronautics agency said.
Officials said they did not fear a tsunami. President Abelardo de la Espriella said he would travel to the affected region.
