MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cali closes the rescue phase after 140 hours and moves to clearing rubble

“After six days and more than 140 hours we are finishing operations to recover people and will move on to clearing debris,” said Milton Castrillón

Authorities in Cali declared the search and rescue phase over a week after the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck western Colombia, following more than 140 hours of continuous operations. Teams deployed in the capital of Valle del Cauca department are now focused on recovering the last bodies located and on removing rubble.

“After six days and more than 140 hours we are finishing operations to recover people and will move on to clearing debris,” said Milton Castrillón, a spokesman for the mayor's office. He added that the next tasks will centre on restoring the affected sites and supporting the families of victims.

The city has recorded 46 buildings that collapsed entirely and a further 534 under evacuation orders, according to the municipal assessment. Emergency teams have worked shifts that at times stretched to 24 hours.

The main focus of operations has been the Torres del Limonar residential complex, where 25 bodies were recovered and three more had been located, with their extraction expected on Sunday. Fire crews from Cali, Bogotá and Jamundí, navy and police rescue units and specialists from the Israel Defense Forces are working there in coordination.

Major Roni Kaplan, spokesman for the Israeli contingent, said his teams are operating at three sites in the city: Torres del Limonar, the Hospital Universitario del Valle and the Vanessa building, the last of these carrying out location work ahead of the deployment of cranes and heavy machinery. “We are going to stay for as long as necessary for the rescues, and we will continue with local authorities with the aim of working on the city's reconstruction phase,” he said.

Cali mayor Alejandro Eder estimated the city will need 10 trillion pesos, around 3.2 billion dollars, and three years to stabilise and undertake a resilient reconstruction. He proposed creating an exceptional financing mechanism similar to the Fund for the Reconstruction and Social Development of the Coffee Region, set up after the 1999 earthquake to channel resources from different sources towards affected areas.

Eder said he presented the proposal to President Abelardo de la Espriella during his visit on Friday and pledged an initial contribution from the city. “I told him that from Cali we are ready to contribute the first trillion pesos. We have already contributed it, we have already committed,” he said.

The national assessment by the National Disaster Risk Management Unit, as of Sunday, records 289 dead, 4,187 injured and 143 missing across 450 municipalities in fifteen departments.