Colombia earthquake: Over 100 dead, people trapped in collapsed buildings, officials say
The partially collapsed La Luna hotel after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Colombia on Aug. 10, 2026, in Cali, Colombia. (Samir Rojas/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Over 100 people are dead after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake rocked western Colombia on Monday, officials said.
The country’s new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, has declared a national disaster, with destruction reported in multiple cities.
The earthquake’s epicenter was 5 kilometers east of San José del Palmar, Colombia, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
At least 111 people are dead and 87 have been injured, according to Colombia’s president.
Some of the hardest-hit regions include the cities of Pereira and Cali. Dozens of people have been reported dead in their respective departments.
At least 61 buildings have collapsed and over 1,600 homes have been damaged or destroyed, the president said. Dozens of health centers, community centers and roads have also been damaged, he said.
In Cali, at least 20 buildings collapsed and people were trapped, according to the mayor. A rescue effort was ongoing in a building where at least 15 people were trapped, according to officials.
The governor of Chuco said there were injuries and “severe damage” to buildings in the department’s capital city of Quibdo.
Seven airports have suspended their services, in the cities of Armenia, Cali, Manizales, Pereira, Quibdo, Buenaventura and Cartago.
There have not been any reports of collapsed buildings in the capital of Bogota, officials said.
The Colombian president said in a video on social media that he was headed to Bogota to “focus on addressing the emergency facing our country” and has convened a unified command post to respond to the affected areas, including what’s known as the Coffee-Growers’ Axis.
The Trump administration is “closely monitoring” the earthquake and stands “ready” to support the people of Colombia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
Residents carry their belongings along a road heavily covered in mud following flash floods, August 27, 2026 in Trishuli, Nepal. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
LONDON — At least 358 people have been confirmed killed in the massive flash flooding that ravaged the Nepal-Tibet border region on Wednesday, emergency authorities in Nepal and China said. More than 1,300 people remained missing as of Thursday morning, authorities said.
As search and rescue efforts continued in Nepal on Thursday, police there said that at least 358 bodies had been recovered.
At least 826 people — among them 579 tourists, of whom 476 are foreign nationals and 114 Nepali nationals — were still out of contact as of Thursday morning, the Nepal National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said.
Across the border in the Chinese region of Tibet, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday that three people were confirmed killed with 558 others still missing, citing local officials.
The number of those considered missing fluctuated significantly as recovery efforts accelerated. The Nepal Tourism Board said that 63 Americans were among the missing.
The board said on Thursday that two Americans were among a group of 27 foreign tourists rescued from the Timure and Bhotekoshi area of Rasuwa.
The flooding, captured in dramatic video footage, occurred in the northern Rasuwa district, along the border with Tibet, at around 8:40 a.m. local time on Wednesday, authorities said, inundating areas along the Trishuli River, burying some buildings and damaging bridges and roadways.
In a statement, Nepal’s office of the prime minister expressed “deep sorrow” over the loss of life. “Offering heartfelt tribute to all those who lost their lives in this natural disaster, it extends its sincere condolences to the bereaved families and relatives,” the statement shared on social media said.
The prime minister’s office later said search and rescue operations carried out by the Nepali Army would continue through the night.
The State Department said the number of Americans among the missing and otherwise impacted by the floods fluctuated throughout the day on Wednesday.
“The United States extends its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in the devastating flash floods in the Rasuwa district of Nepal. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this disaster,” a department spokesperson said in a statement issued later Wednesday.
The spokesperson said the State Department is “closely monitoring the situation and is deploying a disaster response advisor to the region to support response efforts. The Department will also provide $500,000 in assistance through its global award with Catholic Relief Services, supporting emergency shelter, relief items, and water, sanitation, and hygiene assistance to flood-affected communities.”
An Indian spiritual leader and entrepreneur, known as Sadhguru, said in a post to social media that 77 people who were on tours organized by his Isha Foundation were at an immigration center at the Nepal-Tibet border when the floodwaters hit.
The Isha Foundation confirmed to ABC News that 22 of those 77 people were Americans. The organization, which is headquartered in India, also has a base in McMinnville, Tennessee. The group’s coordinator told ABC News the organization has been in touch with family members in the U.S.
Three missing Americans were listed as traveling with a Nepali company called Fishtail Tours and Travel. The agency confirmed to ABC News that three American nationals are among the missing tourists traveling with them.
The flood was reportedly triggered by a landslide about 12 miles northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border post along the Nepal-China frontier, according to Nepal Disaster Management.
A 5.2-magnitude landslide was registered in Nepal on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The seismic activity from the landslide was initially erroneously reported as a 4.4-magnitude earthquake, the agency said. It is unclear what triggered the landslide.
A geophysicist at New York’s Columbia University told ABC News it appeared a landslide in the Himalayas took away a large glacier, or parts of one, in the mountain pass.
ABC News’ Desiree Adib, Somayeh Malekian, Charlotte Gardiner, Shannon Kingston, Joseph Simonetti, Dada Jovanovic, Meghan Mistry and Othon Leyva contributed to this report.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Venezuela and other regions in the Caribbean on June 24, 2026, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Photo by Edilzon Gamez/Getty Images)
(CARACAS, Venezuela) — When the first of two massive earthquakes hit Venezuela, American tourist Jason Wang said he was on a mountaintop outside Caracas, about to get on a cable car to head down.
It was just after 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday when a 7.2 magnitude jolted the South American country’s coastal region, followed 39 seconds later by an even stronger 7.5 magnitude tremor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
High up on El Ávila mountain, about 7 miles outside the capital city, the 39-year-old Wang of Las Vegas said he was caught in a scene of confusion and panic, unsure what had just occurred.
“I was about to board the cable car. I started recording myself going in, and the whole building just started shaking. The floor under me was shaking, and then all of a sudden everyone started panicking,” Wang told ABC News on Thursday morning.
He said he and other tourists charged toward the exit of the cable car building.
“We were just rushing for the door to exit the building, and none of us knew what was going on until a few minutes afterwards,” Wang said. “We realized we got hit with a massive earthquake.”
Videos that Wang posted on social media showed him and others walking down the mountain back toward Caracas on a road blocked by numerous toppled trees. Wang said that as the sun was setting, he managed to get a ride back to his hotel in Caracas.
“I saw some people like cutting down trees that fell on the road to create a tunnel for us to get past,” Wang said.
He said that when he finally reached his hotel and was able to get a WiFi signal, he learned that the twin tremors were the biggest earthquakes to hit Venezuela in a century, causing massive destruction and widespread death across Caracas, a city of more than 2 million people.
“Once I got back on WiFi, I was able to contact my family and friends and tell them I was OK,” said Wang, adding that he was traveling out of the city to the jungle on Thursday morning to escape the danger being caused by numerous aftershocks.
Jorge Rodriguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said that at least 188 people were killed in the earthquakes, and nearly 1,520 more were injured.
But the death toll is expected to grow. The USGS said there is a risk of more than 10,000 deaths, though official casualty tolls have been slow to be reported.
President Donald Trump said there could be a “devastating number of deaths,” as Secretary of State Marco Rubio added that the U.S. is deploying rescue teams to Venezuela to help search for victims.
In Caracas, the scenes of devastation and desperation were evident in all directions. Online videos showed apartment and commercial buildings lying in heaps of rubble, houses knocked off foundations and thousands of people in the streets, shellshocked and watching as emergency crews searched for survivors.
At one point, more than 25,000 people were unaccounted for, officials said.
During the earthquakes, people ran from swaying buildings in Caracas, many visibly shocked when they turned back to see destroyed walls that left furniture visible from the street.
“It’s like a horror movie,” one frantic woman who escaped her damaged building said.
One Caracas resident, Armando Nori, posted a video on social media from inside an apartment building that began to shake violently during the earthquakes. The footage showed Nori and others in the building fleeing as walls and shelves collapsed, and items, including what appeared to be a water container, crashing to the floor.
Another Caracas resident, Gabriel Higuera, told ABC News that he lives on the top floor of an apartment building with his girlfriend, and described their harrowing race to escape. He said his girlfriend almost fell from one of the floors due to the violent tremors.
“The shaking made it impossible to move,” Higuera said.
Another video verified by ABC News showed people in an apartment building in Junquito, west of Caracas, falling to the floor and holding onto each other as the building started to collapse around them. The man filming the video was heard in the footage screaming for his mother as he started to run for cover.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said numerous buildings had been brought down in Caracas, and that the cities of Trujillo, Yaracuy, Carabobo, Aragua, and Miranda had also been affected.
There were reports of widespread power outages and cell phone disruptions throughout the country. Gas to many buildings was turned off to prevent fires, officials said.
Rodriguez declared a state of emergency, saying the earthquakes had turned the coastal state of La Guaira into a “disaster zone.”
“Dozens of buildings have collapsed there, about 30 kilometers north of Caracas, and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” Rodriguez said in a televised address to the nation, according to The Associated Press.
She said Metro and rail services are suspended in the city and that the heavily damaged Maiquetía “Simón Bolívar” International Airport is closed.
Video posted online and verified by ABC News showed people at the airport running for their lives as part of its roof collapsed, creating a cloud of dust. In the footage, people could be heard screaming as the sound of crashing glass and chunks of falling concrete echoed in the background.
Amid the devastation came reports of heroic efforts to rescue people trapped in the rubble. Eighteen people were rescued from one of the two buildings that collapsed in the Chacao municipality, about 7 miles east of Caracas, authorities said.
Dozens of aftershocks have been reported following the initial tremors, forcing many people to sleep on the street on Wednesday night out of fear of more buildings collapsing.
Following the quake, a tsunami advisory was issued, with the potential for hazardous tsunami waves possible for coasts within 300 kilometers, or about 186 miles, of the earthquake epicenter. However, the tsunami advisory later expired.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky, Shannon Kingston, Victoria Beaule and Aicha El Hammar Castano contributed to this report.
In this Aug. 20, 2021, file photo provided by the U.S. Army, combat medic Sgt. Wyatt Ryser with the 811th Hospital Center gives a Covid-19 briefing to an Afghan family at Camp As Sayliyah in Doha, Qatar. The U.S. military is providing meals, water, and snacks to immigration applicants seeking relocation to the U.S. Jimmie Baker/U.S. Army via Getty Images, FILE
(QATAR) — Her room is made up of four towering gray walls. With a rug, a colorful comforter and a few pictures, 15-year-old Zahra Muheb has tried to make it feel like home. She’s spent her last two birthdays living at Camp As Sayliyah, a refugee camp on an unused American military base in Doha that’s a temporary home for more than 1,100 Afghan refugees.
Most of its residents are women and children who were placed there by the U.S. State Department during the U.S. refugee resettlement process.
Zahra told ABC News her dreams for the future have changed drastically since President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting refugee resettlement efforts during the first days of his second term. She said the ripple effects have been felt throughout every corner of the camp.
“I mean, when you go out of the camp and you’re sick, they take you to hospital and they put GPS trackers on you so that you cannot escape,” she said. “I feel like prison might be much better than here.”
Zahra also told ABC News that she was threatened by the camp duty director and other camp officials after speaking to news outlets.
She claimed that they said someone in Washington, D.C., asked them to talk to her, then turned to her parents and said, “What you allow your daughter [to do] has significantly increased the risk of going back to Afghanistan.”
In response to Zahra’s specific claims, a State Department spokesperson told ABC News, “We have no information regarding this alleged incident” and that “accusations are dealt with promptly to protect residents.”
The fear of being sent back to Afghanistan is intense for many refugees at the base, she noted.
Zahra told ABC News camp officials are using that fear and not knowing where they will be placed against residents at the base.
“They are lying to people about [being sent to a] third country,” she said. “They are encouraging people to go back to Afghanistan, paying them money.”
Zahra’s family was already vetted by the Biden administration, but they and many other camp residents remain in limbo, waiting to see where and when the U.S. State Department will relocate them.
“The State Department continues to work toward a positive resolution that provides safety for these remaining people to start a new life outside of Afghanistan while upholding the safety and security of the American people,” a department spokesperson told ABC News.
In response to the possibility of being sent to the DRC, Zahra said she wanted to address Trump directly, saying the idea was “not even acceptable.”
“Mr. Donald Trump and Mrs. Melania reconsider [to] at least take us to America because we deserve safety. We deserve a life with dignity,” she told ABC News.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration raised the refugee ceiling by 10,000 solely for white South African refugees despite the promises the U.S. previously made to those residing at Camp As Sayliyah.
On June 2, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the State Department’s fiscal year 2027 budget, lawmakers pushed back against these new policies.
Democratic Sen. Van Hollen of Maryland told Republican Secretary of State Marco Rubio that “this administration has capped refugees at a record low” and that “White South Africans, Afrikaners, have comprised roughly 99% of those slots.” He called the administration’s process a “race-based refugee system.”
Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, denounced the notion of sending Afghan allies living at Camp As Sayliyah back to Afghanistan, which is controlled by the Taliban, or the DRC, which has seen a surge of sexual violence towards women and children in recent years amid the conflict that has raged since 2022.
In response, Rubio noted that the U.S. “can’t admit any Afghans at this point into the country,” due to an executive order in the wake of last November’s deadly attack on two members of the National Guard last November.
“I don’t know of any single country that’s going to take a thousand people, but we’ve talked to multiple countries about taking several hundred of these people and allowing them to move to a safe location,” he said.
The residents we spoke to told ABC News they feel left behind, including a father who served as a member of the Afghan Command Forces for the U.S. and asked ABC News not to use his name for fear of retaliation.
“In reality, we were brought here legally and we completed all legal processes,” he said. “We stood side by side with the United States in Afghanistan for almost 20 years. Now the time has come for the U.S. government to fulfill their promises.”
Shawn VanDiver, the president of AfghanEvac, a non-profit organization that advocates for Afghan refugees, arranged a call with residents, congressional staffers and politicians in April.
“We’re gonna keep fighting for you, there’s a lot of people in Congress that are gonna keep fighting for you,” he told the residents.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, joined the call to relay what his son, who served in Afghanistan as a Marine Corps infantry officer, told him about the Afghan allies “who put their lives on the line.”
“They love America. We will work for them and fight for them just as we would our own veterans,” he said.
In a previous statement, the U.S. State Department told ABC News in March that “Afghan Nationals at the Camp do not currently have a viable pathway to the United States” and that residents would be relocated by March 31. In June, ABC News spoke with several residents who still do not know where or when they will be relocated, if at all.
“There was a viable pathway, the administration has chosen to close it — it is a policy choice,” VanDiver told ABC News.
For now, residents at the camp hope the U.S. will keep its original promise to bring them to the country to start a new life.
Zahra asked ABC News to use her name, hoping it will help her resettlement efforts and others at the camp who are afraid of being sent to countries in conflict like DRC.
“I’m showing my face and I am raising my voice. To the camp officials from here … you cannot stop me,” she said. “Whatever you do, it won’t stop me. If you think that you can treat me [like this] and it will stop me, it cannot. I will fight. I will take those people to safety. I will try.”
On Thursday, 83 members of Congress signed a letter to Rubio, demanding a clear plan for residents at Camp As Sayliyah, shortly after Zahra’s story aired on ABC News on Tuesday. In the letter, congressional leaders gave the department until June 24 to respond with answers and a credible plan for refugees who have been living in limbo.
