Liliana Pérez Ocampo thought it was an ordinary tremor, one of those Colombia knows well. But the first 30 seconds passed, and then more, and the ground beneath her feet in western Colombia kept moving. That was when she understood this was not like the others. She left with her four children, two of them still in school, while the structure that had sheltered them for years began to collapse.
The earthquake, with a magnitude of 7,4, an epicenter in San José del Palmar, Chocó, and at a depth of 99 kilometers, has already caused more than 70 aftershocks, the largest measuring 4,8. It is the strongest earthquake recorded in Colombia so far in the 21st century. The death toll, which the BBC initially put at 132, later rose to at least 224 according to subsequent reports.
“In the end, material things can be replaced”, Liliana said. “The most important thing is life, and we have it”.