Colombia Quake Rescuers Enter Final Search Phase as U.S. Team Arrives and Toll Holds at 265

Since Wednesday's toll of 265 dead, Colombian officials say the search for survivors of Monday's magnitude 7.4 earthquake has entered what they call its "final phase," with crews racing against the collapsing odds of finding anyone else alive.

"We're entering the final phase," Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder said Wednesday, according to Al Jazeera. "That doesn't mean there won't be survivors afterwards, but it is more difficult."

The quake's epicenter was near San José del Palmar in Chocó department. It struck at 7:34 a.m. local time Monday, August 10, and was the strongest to hit Colombia this century, according to Al Jazeera. The death toll of 265 has held steady across Wednesday's reporting from Al Jazeera, ABC News and CBS News, though Colombian forensic authorities cited by PBS put confirmed deaths at 227 as of Wednesday, illustrating how tallies still vary by source and hour.

More than 3,500 people are injured, according to President Abelardo de la Espriella, and more than 9,550 homes have been destroyed, Al Jazeera reported. CBS News reported de la Espriella said more than 25,800 families have been affected overall.

The missing-persons gap keeps widening

The government's official missing count sits at roughly 500, according to de la Espriella's own Wednesday statement carried by CBS News and Al Jazeera. But civilian-run databases tracking family reports put the number of missing above 4,100, a gap of more than 3,600 people between what the government confirms and what residents are reporting on the ground.

A Wikipedia summary of the disaster puts the missing figure even higher, at more than 4,178, alongside 3,773 injured. PBS reported the government "has been slow to provide updated tolls" and that "the true number is likely higher" than official figures suggest. That's a notable and specific criticism, not present in the wire copy from Al Jazeera or CBS, which mostly repeat the president's numbers without directly questioning them.

The discrepancy isn't necessarily evidence of a cover-up. Verifying deaths in disaster zones takes time, bodies are still being recovered from unstable rubble, and family-reported missing-persons lists always run higher than confirmed counts early on because people file reports for anyone unreachable, including those who fled to shelters without informing relatives. Still, a gap this large roughly eight times the official missing number, deserves close attention from Colombians as the government's own count updates in coming days.

Racing the clock in Pereira

Rescue crews were focused Wednesday on a collapsed bakery in Pereira, in Colombia's coffee-growing region, where equipment detecting vibrations picked up possible signs of life from a trapped street vendor identified as Pablo Loaiza, according to Al Jazeera. His niece, 16-year-old Sara Loaiza, told AFP that relatives believe he responded to knocking signals from rescuers. "My heart is about to burst out of my chest," she said.

That rescue effort follows Tuesday night's successful extraction of 32-year-old Daniela Largo from rubble in Pereira after more than 36 hours trapped. A 12-hour operation involved crews cutting an opening to free her pinned arm while a doctor administered IV fluids, according to CBS News and PBS. Miami-based search-and-rescue volunteer Craig De Meillon told CBS News the moment felt "like a football moment, when everyone is like shaking hands."

Not every recovery has ended that way. PBS reported a man was also pulled from rubble in Pereira on Tuesday, dead, covered in a white blanket.

International help arrives, aftershocks continue

The State Department confirmed Wednesday that roughly 40 members of a U.S. urban search-and-rescue team deployed to Colombia to assist local first responders, according to ABC News. The United Nations, through its aid coordination office OCHA and the World Health Organization, has also mobilized, redirecting pre-positioned emergency supplies and staff, according to UN News. WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said 24 health facilities across six departments have reported damage, with Valle del Cauca and Cali hit hardest, including a partial collapse at Hospital Universitario del Valle's cardiology and pediatric tower.

Colombia's geological service has recorded more than 130 aftershocks since Monday's quake, according to PBS, adding to the anxiety of families sleeping in parks and shelters rather than return to damaged homes. CARE Colombia's country director, Catalina Vargas, said the organization is particularly concerned about women, girls, older people and people with disabilities, groups she said face heightened protection risks when displacement and housing loss deepen existing inequalities.

De la Espriella, inaugurated just three days before the quake struck, has declared both a national and an economic emergency and pledged a rebuilding fund for destroyed hospitals, schools and homes, though he has not detailed what that fund will include or how it will be financed. With Eder warning that the search window is nearly closed, the next update on the death toll and on whether the gap between government and civilian missing-persons counts narrows will be the clearest signal of how accurate Colombia's official numbers have been all week.