Colombia was shaken on Monday at 7:34 in the morning. A 7.4-magnitude earthquake, the strongest since 1979, had its epicenter near San José del Palmar, Chocó.
Buildings collapsed in Pereira and Manizales. A cathedral tower was left resting on the church roof. Pereira airport lost part of its structure. There were people trapped beneath the rubble, and dozens of families who today mourn their loved ones.
The tremor was felt in Cali, Armenia, Bogotá, and even in Ecuador and Panama. But the strongest echo did not come from the earth: it came from those who went out to search for their neighbors among the ruins.
Colombia already knows these blows. It has felt them before and has risen again, rebuilding its homes, its streets, its people.
Today, while the damage is being counted, so too are the helping hands. Those are the ones that will rebuild all of this.
Colombia falls, but it never stays on the ground.