By Minaz Kerawala, Communications and Public Relations Advisor
Responding rapidly to the Colombia earthquake, Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada (DPCC) is making an initial allocation of $50,000 to help local partners, including Cáritas Colombiana, respond to the emergency. We also join Pope Leo XIV in his expression of sorrow, in condoling the victims and in praying for the survivors.
In his telegram to the Colombian Bishops’ Conference, the Holy Father prayed for our Lord to “pour out upon the beloved Colombian people the gifts of spiritual strength and Christian hope.” Now, we are calling Canadians to be the vehicles of that Christian hope by giving generously to help the survivors of the Colombia earthquake.
Colombia earthquake: disaster upon difficulty
At 7:34 a.m. local time on Monday, August 10, 2026, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the municipality of San José del Palmar, in the Chocó Department in western Colombia. While the worst effects are in the departments of Chocó, Valle del Cauca, Risaralda, Quindío and Caldas, impacts have been reported in half of the country’s 32 departments.
A day later, the official toll stood at 2,595 people injured and 224 killed (see update in Spanish), with the most fatalities occurring in Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city. The United States Geological Survey estimates it likeliest that fatalities will exceed 1,000 and that economic losses will range from US$1 to 10 billion, which would make this one of the worst earthquakes in the country’s history.
An earthquake of such magnitude would be disastrous for any people. For the people affected by this one, it may well prove doubly difficult.
Colombia appears on the International Rescue Committee’s 2026 Emergency Watchlist of the 20 countries at the greatest risk of new or worsening humanitarian emergencies. With over 7 million people internally displaced and 6.9 million people in need of aid (see overview in Spanish), Colombia already had its hands full when this quake hit Chocó.
Although the country has recently made significant strides in alleviating poverty, Chocó remains one of its poorest departments. Two in three residents, the vast majority of whom are Afro-Colombian or Indigenous, live in poverty, and child mortality rates are twice as high as elsewhere in Colombia. The factors underpinning this impoverishment―isolation, historic marginalization, an underdeveloped economy and the legacies of civil conflict―will complicate the response to and the recovery from this earthquake.
Colombia earthquake: what our partners are doing and how you can help
Over DPCC’s decades-long presence in Colombia, we have forged strong links with some very capable partners. Cáritas Colombiana, in particular, has a vast and deep countrywide network of thousands of grassroots professionals and volunteers that it has already mobilized. Command posts have been activated in Bogotá, Quibdó, Armenia, and Cali to coordinate relief efforts.
They will begin with addressing people’s most urgent needs, including for food, water, shelter, clothing, hygiene supplies, medication, etc. Later, systematic needs assessments will inform longer-term rebuilding, recovery and rehabilitation efforts.
While our partners’ capabilities are abundant, this gargantuan task will take more resources than they have on hand. That is why they need your solidarity now. You can help them by giving generously to support the people of Colombia.