Colombia felt another jolt on Thursday when a magnitude 4.2 aftershock struck Chocó at 9:42 a.m. local time, just as rescuers were pushing through the 72-hour window after Monday’s 7.4 earthquake. The aftershock, reported by the Servicio Geológico Colombiano, was recorded about 12 miles from San José del Palmar at a depth of 59 miles.
The timing matters because that window is when crews are most likely to find people alive. By Wednesday, authorities said the quake had killed 265 people, injured 3,494 and left 496 missing, while 11,347 homes were destroyed, 53,526 houses damaged and 140 buildings collapsed. The emergency had spread across 24,324 families in 403 municipalities across 14 departments, turning a single quake into a national rescue effort.
For Daniela Largo, the numbers have a face. She was pulled from under the rubble of a four-story building in Pereira after 36 hours trapped inside, then lost her right arm and remains intubated in intensive care. She suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest, was revived for 17 minutes, and now has only 20 percent heart function, with damage to other organs. Martha Sánchez Vélez called her a warrior and said she believes she will recover, while Ángel David said he thought she would not survive and prayed she would be all right.
That is why Thursday cut both ways for rescuers. In some places they were still searching for survivors, but in others they had already ruled out survival and were preparing to remove debris. The 4.2 aftershock did not add any new reported casualties or damage, but it underscored how fragile the work remained as the first 72 hours closed and the odds of finding anyone alive kept falling.
The next step is no mystery: crews will keep searching where life may still be found, then shift to debris removal where it is not. For families still waiting on the 496 missing, that transition is the story now.
