Colombia Earthquake: New Jersey Mother Died Shielding Daughter as 379 Remain Missing

Colombia's 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Monday, and the government's death toll stood at 281 as of Thursday, according to the New York Post. More than 379 people remained missing more than 72 hours after the quake, the Post reported, citing Colombian officials.

Magnolia Garcia Lugo, a 57-year-old mother of three from Bergenfield, New Jersey, escaped her building in Roldanillo when the quake hit Monday, then ran back inside to get her daughter Natalia out, according to WABC reporting cited by the New York Post. Garcia Lugo never came back out. Her brother, a pastor, dug through the rubble himself and found her body crushed under a collapsed wall.

Natalia, a recent graduate of Bergenfield High School, survived with an arm injury and is hospitalized, Roldanillo Mayor Arvin Amatorio said Wednesday, according to the Post. Her father traveled to Colombia after the quake. A funeral for Garcia Lugo was held Wednesday. Ana Castro, a member of Garcia Lugo's church congregation, called her death "a big loss."

The quake has injured almost 4,000 people and destroyed more than 10,500 homes, according to figures Colombia's government released Thursday and reported by the Post. More than 150 aftershocks have hit the region since Monday.

Venezuelan teens who fled one quake found themselves in another

The disaster is compounding trauma for people who already lived through catastrophe once this year. The BBC reported on two Venezuelan brothers, Deivi Delfín, 15, and his brother Winder, 17, who survived twin earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 that struck Venezuela's La Guaira region on June 24, killing more than 6,300 people according to the Venezuelan government. There is still no clear official figure for how many remain missing from that disaster, the BBC noted.

The brothers' apartment building collapsed that night, killing their mother Yusmani, grandmother Carmen, and younger brother Moissés, who was just 10. Their father Deivid, who was in Colombia at the time working, could not find his sons for three days after returning to Venezuela. The boys spent that time joining rescue efforts with no food or shelter, then spent nearly a month searching for their family members' remains, crawling through rubble because their smaller frames could fit spaces adult rescuers couldn't.

"By that point, I didn't feel like a child anymore," Deivi told the BBC.

The brothers moved to Cali, Colombia to live with their father last Friday. Three days later, Colombia's quake hit. "The earthquake is haunting me," Deivi said.

Conspiracy theories and the response effort

AP News reported it is fact-checking conspiracy theories that have falsely blamed the Colombia earthquake on an Alaska research program, part of a broader pattern of unfounded claims that circulate after major seismic events.

AP News has also published guidance for Americans wanting to donate to relief efforts, pointing readers toward established humanitarian organizations working in the region.

Colombian search-and-rescue teams continue working through collapsed structures in Roldanillo and surrounding areas as officials work to account for the hundreds still listed as missing.