Woman pulled alive from rubble after 36 hours following Colombia quake

A 32-year-old woman has been rescued alive after spending 36 hours trapped beneath rubble following a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck western Colombia, BBC reports.

Daniela Largo was pulled from the ruins of a collapsed building in Pereira after a 10-hour rescue operation. Firefighters reached her through a tunnel dug beneath four heavy concrete slabs that had trapped her.

Largo’s mother said that a local resident heard her daughter calling for help from beneath the debris. Emergency crews subsequently located Largo using a small camera, but the rescue was complicated by the concrete slabs blocking access.

Firefighters from Pereira, supported by colleagues from Bogotá and the national police’s disaster response team, dug two tunnels to reach her. Oxygen was supplied through one opening excavated from above, while a second tunnel dug from below ultimately allowed rescuers to free her.

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella welcomed the rescue on social media, describing it as “news which fills us with hope.”

Largo’s mother said, “at home, her 12-year-old son is waiting for her.”

The earthquake has killed at least 188 people, according to official figures, while hundreds remain missing.

Pereira, located in Colombia’s coffee-growing region, has recorded at least 79 deaths, making it the second-worst affected city after Cali, where 95 people have died, according to the Association of Colombian Capital Cities (Asocapitales).

At least 92 buildings collapsed in Pereira, with 15 people known to remain trapped and another 37 reported missing, Asocapitales said.

In Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, more than 200 people were still trapped as of 4 p.m. local time on August 11. The city’s mayor imposed a nighttime curfew and said soldiers would patrol the hardest-hit areas.

“We need to ensure that the rescue work can be carried out safely,” the mayor said, adding that there was still hope of finding more survivors and that authorities would do everything possible to free those trapped.

At least 87 people have been rescued in Cali so far.

The earthquake was centered near the village of San José del Palmar in Chocó province and was felt across a wide area. Seismometers closest to the epicenter recorded shaking lasting between 90 seconds and two minutes.

More than 100 aftershocks have been recorded since the main quake.

By Vafa Guliyeva