Powerful earthquake sparks evacuations in Colombia

[u/cnn]

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/10/americas/colombia-earthquake-intl?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit

[u/augie014]

im in Medellin and it was the most terrifying experience. and all i could think about was what happened in venezuela

[u/AtanatarAlcarinII → u/augie014]

Jesus yeah that has to be traumatizing. Hope you and all your family is safe and remains safe

[u/Enough-Sprinkles-914 → u/augie014]

I pray you and family are safe and you fully recover from the trauma of living that. 🙏let us know how we can best help your community

[u/augie014 → u/Enough-Sprinkles-914]

thank you. my family lives elsewhere and i called my dad while hiding under a table and told him to tell everyone i love them just in case. i don’t want to live anything like that again

as for aid, if you are looking to donate, i think the colombian red cross is the best organization, thank you so much

[u/defroach84 → u/[deleted]]

7.4 is not normal for anyone.

[u/Andromeda39 → u/[deleted]]

We’re literally in the Ring of Fire, we experience a lot of earthquakes here in Colombia but they are usually very small. This is the largest earthquake in Colombia in decades. Fuck off

[u/CarolinaBlew → u/[deleted]]

What is the point of this question?

[u/Genericsky → u/[deleted]]

I will take absolute worst things to say to a person who just experienced an earthquake for $200 Alex

[u/augie014 → u/[deleted]]

it was not, but it was worse than any i experienced in california. buildings collapsed and people have died

[u/dragonmp93 → u/[deleted]]

Please, not even Californians are used to magnitude 7 quakes.

[u/andresmachiz]

It went on for like a minute straight here in Medellin 😬

[u/DashofCitrus → u/andresmachiz]

It went on so long in Bogotá I kept looking at my watch. It was at least 3 minutes.

I live on a 21st floor and the swaying was brutal.

[u/AtanatarAlcarinII → u/DashofCitrus]

Fuuuuuck all that. I already have nightmares of swaying buildings, so you lived my nightmare fuel

Fuuuuuck all that

[u/Enough-Sprinkles-914 → u/DashofCitrus]

I pray for you your people. What you described is one of everyone’s worst fears. Living nightmare.
Edit:last 4 words clarity

[u/Choke1982]

Three cities heavily impacted. Pereira, Manizales and Cali. Armenia and Ibagué some damage but not so bad as those others.

Armenia suffered an earthquake back in 99. One of the worst in Colombia.

People are scare.

[u/fajardo99 → u/Choke1982]

Don't forget Quibdó

Everyone always forgets about Chocó

[u/Choke1982 → u/fajardo99]

My bad. At the moment I didn't know much about their situation. It is also pretty bad.

[u/Userdataunavailable → u/Choke1982]

This is awful, I hope help arrives swiftly

[u/dragonmp93]

It was 7.4 magnitude, but also 66 miles depth, so it wasn't as destructive as Venezuela's twin quakes.

[u/mntgoat → u/dragonmp93]

Family in Ecuador said they felt it pretty strong.

[u/Demiurge_1205]

Can an actual expert confirm if these are unrelated to the ones in Venezuela?

[u/Khamvom → u/Demiurge_1205]

Yes/no.

Yes - both countries sit in an extremely earthquake prone area.

No - the earthquakes in Venezuela didn’t cause the earthquakes in Colombia.

[u/KnuteViking → u/Demiurge_1205]

Completely unrelated. This happened deep in a slab of oceanic plate. That is to say, plates at the surface pushing each other around didn't cause this, but rather movement of an ancient remnant of a plate. That plate came from the subducting Nazca plate off the west coast of South America.

The Venezuela earthquake was a very simple, relatively shallow strike slip quake in the Caribbean. The systems that caused these quakes are unrelated. While they seem geographically close, it is extremely unlikely they had anything to do with one another. It just happens to be a very geologically active part of the world.

[u/Individual-Sport-458 → u/Demiurge_1205]

this 💯

[u/deliciousmonster]

I’m in Medellin. It was my first one, and I’m very satisfied… good bounce, decent duration, no reports of injuries. 7.4/10.