CHICAGO () — As emergency teams race to find survivors following a deadly 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Colombia, Chicago residents with ties to the country are watching anxiously, sharing firsthand accounts and holding affected families in their prayers.
Authorities said the powerful quake, which struck western Colombia on Monday morning, has killed 132 people and injured 572 others. Footage from Pereira showed collapsed and heavily damaged buildings, with residents stunned by the scale of destruction left behind.
Among those caught in the chaos was Chicago resident Silvana Botero, who was visiting relatives in Medellín with her son, Juan Pablo Lopez, when the ground began to shake.
“I’m so scared because, you know, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Botero said.
Lopez said he was asleep when the earthquake jolted him awake.
“I thought it was a dream. I was like, wait, I was just sleeping. Then, my grandma was screaming. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I got to get up,'” Lopez said.
Botero said panic set in quickly as she focused on protecting her family while fearing that nearby buildings could come down at any moment.
“The only thing that I did was like grabbing my grandma, looking at the buildings, and all I kept thinking like, ‘Am I going to see buildings falling? Like, what’s going on?'” she said.
While Medellín was spared the catastrophic damage reported in other parts of the country, former Chicago resident Tom Pardue said the earthquake was still powerful.
“It started shaking a lot. I was like, ‘Oh my God, this thing could fall,'” Pardue said.
Pardue said the quake caused visible damage to his building.
“One of my walls cracked and, in the hallways, the walls cracked as well,” he said.
Back in Chicago, members of the Colombian community spent the day checking on family and friends.
Walter Bohorquez, manager of his family’s Mekato’s Colombian Bakery on the North Side, said hearing about the earthquake immediately prompted him to call relatives in Colombia.
“When I woke up this morning, and I heard about the earthquake, the first thing that passed in my mind was calling my family,” Bohorquez said.
Bohorquez said his father is currently in Colombia and felt the earthquake. While his family was not injured, he said his wife’s relatives told him about widespread fear and destruction.
“They say that it’s like it’s like a movie. It’s like a movie because you see people crying, people running. The buildings collapse,” Bohorquez said.
He said his wife’s family is from Cali, one of the hardest hit areas. Bohorquez said they described feeling the earthquake strongly and said many people remain afraid to return to their homes.
“My wife’s family, they say that they felt very, very you know-the earthquake felt very strong. And they’re afraid, afraid of going back to their houses,” Bohorquez said.
Bohorquez said the images and reports coming out of Colombia have been difficult to watch.
“I just want people to pray for Colombia. I just want people to join in praying for Colombia so we can find more people alive,” he said.
