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A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia on August 10, 2026, with the epicentre at San Jose del Palmar in Choco province.
The Colombian Geological Service described it as the most powerful earthquake to hit the country this century.
Initial reports counted at least 111 deaths, with the toll rising past 130 as rescue operations continued.
Cali, Pereira, Quibdo and Manizales were among the worst-affected cities, and Colombia declared an emergency.
Colombia lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the Nazca and Caribbean Plates subduct beneath the South American Plate.
Colombia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the horseshoe-shaped belt of seismic and volcanic activity around the Pacific basin. Here the Nazca Plate and the Caribbean Plate subduct — slide beneath — the South American Plate. Subduction zones generate the most powerful earthquakes on Earth because enormous strain accumulates along the locked interface between plates before releasing suddenly. Colombia's dense Andean fault systems add a second layer of seismic risk, which is why cities such as Cali, Pereira and Manizales are repeatedly affected.
Simple Analogy: Two vast slabs jammed against each other for decades, then slipping all at once — the longer the jam, the bigger the release.
Colombia is the only South American nation with coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Its capital, Bogota, sits on a high plateau in the northern Andes. Near the southern border the Andes flare into three parallel ranges — the Cordillera Occidental, the volcanic Cordillera Central and the Cordillera Oriental — separated by the Magdalena and Cauca river valleys.
GS Paper I > Geography > Geophysical Phenomena; GS Paper III > Disaster Management
General Awareness > World Geography and Current Affairs
The process where one tectonic plate slides beneath another into the mantle, generating powerful earthquakes and volcanic arcs.
A horseshoe-shaped belt around the Pacific Ocean marked by intense seismic and volcanic activity.
An oceanic plate off South America's west coast that subducts beneath the South American Plate.
A system of parallel mountain ranges; Colombia's Andes divide into three such cordilleras.