The Philippine Embassy in Bogotá has kept in touch with Filipinos living in Colombia and urged them to remain indoors after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake devastated the country’s western regions, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported Tuesday.
Roughly 119 Filipino nationals are in Colombia, according to DFA records, and none has been hurt in the disaster.
“As of this writing, no injuries or casualties involving Filipino nationals in Colombia have been reported,” DFA spokesperson Analyn Ratonel said in a Viber message.
She said embassy staff are watching how the crisis unfolds and staying connected with the Filipino community there. “The Philippine Embassy in Bogota remains in contact with our nationals and has advised them to stay safely sheltered in place and monitor local news for further updates,” Ratonel said.
The quake, which struck Monday, ranks among the deadliest to hit Colombia in recent memory. At least 132 people were killed and about 570 injured, CNN reported, citing figures from the Colombian Association of Capital Cities, with the city of Pereira accounting for the largest share of the dead. Al Jazeera reported that hundreds of people remained unaccounted for as rescuers dug through collapsed structures.
The Colombian Geological Service placed the epicenter in the Chocó region and described the tremor as the strongest to hit the country in the past decade. Cities across the west, among them Cali, Pereira, Quibdó and Manizales, sustained heavy damage, and the shaking reached neighboring Ecuador and Panama.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs, through the Philippine Embassy in Bogota, is closely monitoring the situation following the powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck western Colombia,” Ratonel said.
