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Colombia earthquake death toll rises above 220 · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Lewis Vaughan Jones. Welcome to the program. The
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: death toll after Monday's earthquake in Colombia has risen to
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: at least two hundred and twenty four people as rescue
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: efforts continue. Among the dozens of collapsed buildings, nearly six
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: hundred people are injured. Cities of Cali and Pereira were
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: among the worst hit well. The second point four magnitude
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: earthquake has affected a huge area across the west of
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the country. It's blocked roads, disruptive communications and of courses,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: making rescue efforts difficult. Flights have been canceled at some
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: airports because they're being used as part of the rescue
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: effort instead. While the country's president there's only a couple
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: of days into the job when this earthquake hit, he's
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: now facing his first major crisis and has declared a
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: state of emergencies. Several countries, including the US, Mexico and
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Ecuador have offered to help. So the city of Cali
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: is among the hardest hit areas, and the BBC's Hosi
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Carlos Guertro Lopez is therefore.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Behind me. There is a totally collapsed building with the
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  Speaker 2: rescue teams hoping to find survivors. It's a picture familiar
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: where I'm just south of Cali, which is one of
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: the worst heat areas in this disaster. On my way here,
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  Speaker 2: I saw several buildings with tracks, rubles on the ground
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: and smashed windows. We know that dozens have died in
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Cali alone, and many hope to find their missing loved ones,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: like in this case behind me. Here in particular, the
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  Speaker 2: most tense moments are lived with the rescue teams the
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  Speaker 2: man total silence in the area in order to be
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: able to hear survivors trapped under the rubble. I have
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  Speaker 2: spoken to John volunteers who have been working tidelessly since yesterday,
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  Speaker 2: while residents and neighbors are visibly affected and reluctant to
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: talk to the press. The scene is repeating in other
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: areas in Colombia. Apart from Cali, the coffee growing region
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  Speaker 2: in the west of the country is also severely affected
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: by what has been called the worst earthquake in a
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: decade in Colombia.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Is a journalist at Latin America reports he's also in
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Cali and gave me this update.
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  Speaker 3: I think Colombians are in shock you know, they woke
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: up on Monday morning after a long weekend, they were
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: making their coffee, they were getting ready for work, and
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  Speaker 3: this very strong earthquake struck and it lasted for two minutes.
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  Speaker 4: And to make matters worse, you.
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  Speaker 3: Know, people in Colombia felt very strongly the.
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  Speaker 4: App stocks of Venezuela and earthquake.
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  Speaker 3: They share a two thousand and more than two thousand
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  Speaker 3: kilometer land border with Venezuela, so you know, the earthquake
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  Speaker 3: was kind of in the back of people's minds already.
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  Speaker 3: The response has been rapid. The government's mobilized resources quickly.
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  Speaker 3: President Ablada de Lasbrea, who was inaugurated just last Friday
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  Speaker 3: in the city of Cali, has already visited Pereeda, Cali
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  Speaker 3: and Chocour, the most affected areas for the earthquake, and
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  Speaker 3: you can see. I've been at a at a rescue
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  Speaker 3: site this.
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  Speaker 4: Morning and the response is really remarkable.
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  Speaker 3: You have soldiers, firefighters, police officers, and then dozens hundreds
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  Speaker 3: of regular citizens lining up to put in their two
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  Speaker 3: cents and to really help the kind of fellow Columbians.
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  Speaker 3: So the response has been rapid and people are working,
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  Speaker 3: but they're.
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  Speaker 4: Still in city of Cali.
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  Speaker 3: There are almost three hundred people reported missing. That number
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  Speaker 3: could very easily rise, as well as ninety people dead
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  Speaker 3: in this city alone.
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  Speaker 4: So this isn't going to end anytime soon.
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  Speaker 1: And I'll for just how prepared are the buildings? There
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  Speaker 1: is the infrastructure there for this kind of earthquake.
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  Speaker 3: Colombia is prone to these kinds of events seismic activity,
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  Speaker 3: so a lot of the buildings are designed to withstand
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  Speaker 3: a certain amount of shock. If we compare the effects
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: of this earthquake in Colombia to those in Venezuela, they've
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  Speaker 3: been much less. Much is because of architectural and engineering
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  Speaker 3: preparations for an event like this. But there are in
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  Speaker 3: the city of career loone thirty buildings potentially more that
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  Speaker 3: have collapsed altogether.
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  Speaker 4: So it's not to say that.
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  Speaker 3: There aren't buildings that were vulnerable to this kind of
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  Speaker 3: event and.
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  Speaker 4: That have suffered immense damage.
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  Speaker 3: Many hospitals, schools, and other public buildings have also suffered
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  Speaker 3: significant damage.
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  Speaker 4: So that's still being assessed. But Colombia was relatively prepared
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  Speaker 4: for an event like this.
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  Speaker 1: What about the level of communications. Clearly, with events like this,
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  Speaker 1: communications are disrupted, being that you know, internet, phone roads,
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  Speaker 1: But how significant is it? Is it manageable? Are people
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  Speaker 1: still being able to communicate Our people able to try
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  Speaker 1: and piece together and track down loved ones.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, people have mobilized, as we saw in Venezuela.
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  Speaker 3: They're using social media, which is an incredibly powerful tool
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  Speaker 3: to disseminate images of loved ones, phone numbers, to contact
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  Speaker 3: with anybody who's seen them. So there's a lot of information,
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  Speaker 3: but there's a big kind of information in equality in Columbia.
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  Speaker 3: So one of the worst struck regions Choko. It's the
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  Speaker 3: most impoverished region of Columbia and it was struck badly,
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  Speaker 3: and we're seeing very little information coming out of those areas,
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  Speaker 3: largely because they're rural areas deep in the rainforest, and
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  Speaker 3: also because they're poor areas where people don't have the
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  Speaker 3: same kind of access to infrastructure, and the lower level
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  Speaker 3: of development means that the infrastructure is more vulnerable to
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: an event like this. So we're certainly seeing that Pereeda
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  Speaker 3: and Calli Kelly is Columbia's third city. Perea is a
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  Speaker 3: very prosperous city in the interior of Columbia.
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  Speaker 4: We have a lot of images coming out of there
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  Speaker 4: a lot.
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  Speaker 3: Of information, but from Choko it's it's a bit of
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  Speaker 3: a black hole.
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  Speaker 1: Oh thanks to Alfie bringing us the very latest in
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: the last hour there from Carrie