Dramatic footage captures the moment the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Manizales, Colombia, partially collapsed during the powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck the country Monday.
The earthquake struck at 7:34 a.m. local time, with its epicenter near San José del Palmar in the department of Chocó
, and
at least 47 people were killed and dozens of buildings collapsed in cities across western Colombia
.
The video shows sections of the historic cathedral giving way as intense shaking rocked the city, sending debris falling around the landmark.
The Catedral BasÃlica Metropolitana Nuestra Senora del Rosario, located in the city’s historic centre, is the tallest cathedral in Colombia and one of the tallest neo-Gothic churches in the Americas.
Years built: 1928–1939
, making it nearly a century old at the time of the collapse.
Social media footage from Manizales showed one of the side towers of the city’s iconic cathedral collapsed following the earthquake, leaving debris scattered on nearby streets and causing visible damage to the building’s façade.
Local officials confirmed that at least 18 people had been killed in the city of Pereira, two in the city of Manizales and 27 people in the Valle de Cauca department, where Colombia’s third-biggest city, Cali, is located.
Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas posted on X, warning that “many structures were affected,” including buildings that were “totally” destroyed.
Pereira, in Risaralda, also reported substantial structural damage and was among the cities hardest hit.
In the mountainous city of Pereira, 18 people died, the city’s Mayor Mauricio Salazar told local media.
People remained trapped in Cali, one of Colombia’s largest cities, after more than two dozen structures collapsed, Mayor Alejandro Eder said.
He added that the city had asked authorities in Bogota and Medellin to send disaster teams to support rescue efforts.
In Bogota some people ran out into the street in their pajamas as emergency sirens rang out
, despite the capital being far from the epicenter.
The earthquake, the strongest recorded in Colombia in the last decade, prompted evacuations in major cities and triggered emergency response efforts as authorities warned residents to remain alert for possible aftershocks.
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella, facing his first crisis as president since his inauguration on Friday, issued a statement announcing he would personally oversee national earthquake response.
“I have directly assumed leadership of the emergency response in San José del Palmar. I have ordered the establishment of a Unified Command Post to coordinate the attention to the damages and the affected individuals,” he wrote, adding that he was asking the country’s earthquake experts for a “detailed report” including what areas need the most urgent attention.
“The State is present and acting,” he assured citizens.
He also announced travel to Pereira to meet with those affected.
“We are activating in this moment the crisis response center with the National Disaster Committed to consolidate data and activate all immediate response protocols that we have for earthquakes,” he shared.
Colombia’s civil aviation authority said flights were suspended at airports in Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura while inspectors checked for structural damage.
In the viral moment that has circulated across social media,
the video shows sections of the historic cathedral giving way as intense shaking rocked the city, sending debris falling around the landmark.
The cathedral is one of Manizales’ most recognizable landmarks and a major religious and architectural site in Colombia.
At 119 m (117 m from the base of the building), it is the tallest cathedral in Colombia and Hispanic America, and the tallest Neogothic church in the Americas.
In Manizales, part of the tower of the city’s historic cathedral collapsed during the earthquake. The city was among the areas reporting serious structural damage, with two deaths reported there.
Small earthquakes, known as “temblores,” are common in central and western Colombia, but those above 6.0 magnitude are rare. In 1999, a 6.2 magnitude quake near the city of Armenia, killed more than 1,100 people.
Espriella announced he plans to visit Pereira this week.