By Nelson Bocanegra, Julia Symmes Cobb and Luis Jaime Acosta
BOGOTA, Aug 10 (Reuters) – At least 111 people were killed after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia early on Monday, knocking down buildings across several cities and injuring 87 more, with still others trapped in the rubble.
The quake struck just days after Abelardo De La Espriella was sworn in as president, thrusting the new administration into its first major crisis, with memories still fresh of devastating twin earthquakes in neighboring Venezuela in June.
“The national government has all of its capabilities deployed to protect lives, assist affected communities and deliver aid wherever it is needed,” he said in a national address around midday, upon declaring a national state of emergency.
“The first priority is rescuing the people trapped under the rubble.”
The 7.4 magnitude quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, struck at a depth of 107 km (66 miles) near San Jose del Palmar, in Choco, a sparsely populated province on Colombia’s Pacific Coast, but was felt in major cities nationwide.
(Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra, Luis Jaime Acosta, Julia Symmes Cobb and Fabiola Aramburo; Additional reporting by Yury Garcia in Quito, Writing by Kylie Madry and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by David Holmes, Paul Simao and Daniel Wallis)
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