Woman pulled alive from rubble 36 hours after Colombia quake
Following a 10-hour rescue operation, emergency workers pulled the 32-year-old from beneath slabs of concrete.
A 32-year-old woman, Daniela Largo, was successfully rescued after being trapped for 36 hours under the debris of a collapsed building in Pereira, following a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck western Colombia.
The rescue operation, which lasted 10 hours, saw firefighters digging a tunnel beneath four concrete slabs to reach Largo. She was then carried to an ambulance, wrapped in a blue sheet.
Official figures indicate that at least 188 people have died in the quake, with hundreds still unaccounted for. Pereira, located in Colombia's coffee-growing region, has reported 79 fatalities, making it the second-hardest hit city after Cali, where 95 deaths have been confirmed, according to the Association of Colombian Capital Cities (Asocapitales).
Largo's mother informed AFP news agency that a local resident heard her daughter's cries for help from under the rubble. Emergency workers used a small camera to locate Largo, but her rescue was complicated by four heavy concrete slabs obstructing the path.
Local firefighters, supported by teams from Bogotá and the national police's disaster response unit, dug two tunnels. One tunnel, dug from above, allowed them to provide Largo with oxygen, while a second tunnel, dug from below, was used to free her.
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella expressed his joy on social media, calling the rescue "news which fills us with hope." Largo's mother shared that her "12-year-old son is waiting for her at home."
In Pereira, 92 buildings collapsed, with 15 people known to be trapped and 37 reported missing, as per Asocapitales. In Cali, Colombia's third most populous city, over 200 people remained trapped as of 4:00 PM local time on Tuesday.
The mayor of Cali implemented a night-time curfew and announced that soldiers would patrol the city's most affected areas. He emphasized the need to ensure safe rescue operations and expressed hope for finding more survivors, vowing that all efforts would be made to free those trapped. Eighty-seven people have been rescued in Cali thus far.
The 7.4-magnitude earthquake occurred at 7:34 AM local time (12:34 GMT) on Monday, with its epicenter near San José del Palmar in Chocó province. The tremors, which lasted between 90 seconds and two minutes near the epicenter, were felt across a wide area. More than 100 aftershocks have been recorded since the initial quake.