The Government of Colombia has declared this Monday the situation of "national disaster" after the earthquake of magnitude 7.4 on the Richter scale recorded in the vicinity of the town of San José del Palmar, in the northwest of the country, which has so far caused more than 70 fatalities.
The measure has been adopted in a meeting of the National Committee for Disaster Management, convened on this same day by the Colombian president, Abelardo de la Espriella, with the aim of coordinating the institutional response to the earthquake, which has impacted about nine departments.
The Association of Capital Cities of Colombia —led by the mayor of Bogotá, Carlos Galán— has informed of this decision after participating in the meeting.
According to the reports from local authorities, so far 71 fatalities have been counted in several departments, with Risaralda and Valle del Cauca as the hardest-hit areas.
The epicenter of the tremor, which occurred around 7:34 a.m. (local time), has been located five kilometers east of San José del Palmar and at a depth of 107 kilometers, according to the preliminary report released by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).