World March 10, 2023 | 8:44 am

5.9 magnitude earthquake shook Colombia at dawn; people ran out in pajamas

An earthquake of magnitude 5.9 shook a large part of Colombia in the early hours of Friday, without the authorities having reported any victims or damage so far. According to a preliminary bulletin from the Colombian Geological Service (SGC), the telluric movement occurred at 4:18 local time (9:18 GMT) at a depth of 151 kilometers and had as its epicenter the Los Santos region, in the department of Santander, in the center -east of the country, where one of the main geological faults of the country is located. The violence of the movement shook a good part of the infrastructure and was particularly strong in Bogotá and Medellín, as well as other cities such as Bucaramanga, the capital of Santander, the city closest to the epicenter, and in Cúcuta on the border with Venezuela.

In Bogotá, building alarms were activated and people took to the streets in their pajamas in the middle of the night following evacuation protocols. The director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), Javier Pava, asked on the entity’s Twitter account “the citizens and community for a report on affectations and damages” so that response agencies can “have a quick balance of the magnitude of the event”. “After the telluric movement that was felt in Bogotá, we are monitoring possible emergencies. At this time, normality is reported in the 20 locations” of the capital, the Bogotá Fire Department reported.

The Geological Service reported that two hours before the tremor, at 2:24 local time (7:24 GMT) there was another magnitude 3.3, also in Los Santos, at a depth of 145 kilometers.

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Paul Tierney
March 10, 2023 9:08 am

4.4 yesterday in Italy and today 5.9 in Columbia. Tomorrow 6.0 in Costa Rica? Thank God there are no reports of injury or great damage in Columbia.

As I said in a previous article about the quake in Italy, there is a soft agenda about for publishing stories about earthquakes, an agenda to focus the risks and awareness of quakes to Gov’t and public.

Alberto
March 10, 2023 11:07 am
Reply to  Paul Tierney

It’s Colombia not Columbia……

Paul Tierney
March 10, 2023 12:34 pm
Reply to  Alberto

Wow !!! Guess my digits did not transfer the message from my mind correctly. lol

John Longfellow
March 10, 2023 6:00 pm
Reply to  Alberto

Who cares about the spelling? Find a hobby ALBETO

Bernard Barbour
March 11, 2023 11:15 pm

No Sir, correction! The Colombians care about how the name of their country is spelled. You’re welcome.

Karlton
March 10, 2023 11:38 am

I happened to be up at that time and sitting on our sofa (Belen-Rosales, Medellin) … I felt the vibration but thought it was just our cat scatching himself!