How deep is Colombia’s earthquake toll as the country turns towards reconstruction?

Colombian authorities raised the confirmed death toll from the 10 August earthquake to 331 on 24 August, with 4,439 people injured and 240 still missing after the magnitude-7.4 shock struck the country’s west. The National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, known as UNGRD, said the emergency now covers 494 municipalities in 16 departments and has affected 361,353 people. That national assessment supersedes the figure of 69 deaths reported during the first hours of an operation hampered by damaged roads, communications failures and the remoteness of some communities.

The earthquake struck at about 7.35am local time, with its epicentre near San José del Palmar in Chocó, according to Colombia

The human emergency remains the central story. Search teams have rescued 364 people, UNGRD’s latest published balance says, but the unresolved list of missing residents means the toll can still change as authorities identify victims and reconcile municipal records. The distinction matters: rapidly evolving disaster counts are administrative snapshots, not a smooth or final series. Early totals can rise sharply when rescuers reach isolated places, and can occasionally fall when duplicated reports are removed.

The physical damage has turned the disaster into a formidable economic test. A Colombian government count on 21 August recorded 31,445 homes destroyed and 163,884 damaged, alongside hundreds of affected roads, health centres, schools, aqueducts and bridges. Those figures were already substantially higher than earlier assessments and remain provisional. An initial estimate cited by El País placed total damage near $9.8 billion, but a complete reconstruction bill cannot yet be calculated because engineers are still inspecting buildings and infrastructure.

For households, those losses mean more than a reduction in national output. A destroyed home erases accumulated family wealth; a closed road prevents farmers and small traders from reaching markets; a damaged school shifts childcare back onto parents; and interrupted water or health services increase everyday costs. Informal workers are particularly exposed because missing several days of work can immediately remove the income needed for food, rent or debt payments. Insurance will cover only part of the loss, leaving public budgets, humanitarian organisations and families themselves to carry much of the burden.

Chocó illustrates why the same earthquake can inflict radically unequal damage. The Associated Press reported that 69,000 people in the department had been affected or displaced, roughly one person in ten. The region, whose population is predominantly Afro-Colombian and Indigenous, entered the emergency with high poverty, limited public services and difficult transport links. Only two precarious roads connect much of Chocó with the rest of Colombia, while many settlements can be reached only by river or air. Armed groups competing over mining and drug-trafficking routes add a security crisis to the natural disaster and longstanding underdevelopment.

The strain is visible in healthcare. AP reported that Quibdó’s only public hospital transferred 36 patients with multiple fractures to Medellín because it lacked sufficient equipment and staff. Its refrigerator for blood supplies was also damaged, temporarily making transfusions impossible. United Nations

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International system whose agencies support humanitarian operations in Colombia.

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International system whose agencies support humanitarian operations in Colombia.

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Recovery will therefore require choices about where scarce money goes first. Colombia’s government has declared an economic emergency and emphasised restoring transport, healthcare, education and housing. Humanitarian agencies and organisations working in Chocó argue that rebuilding the same fragile systems would leave communities exposed to the next shock; they favour stronger public services, safer construction and measures adapted to remote and conflict-affected areas. The two priorities are not mutually exclusive, but speed, oversight and resilience will compete for limited administrative and financial capacity.

Belgium’s role is secondary but concrete. The Belgian Foreign Ministry updated its Colombia travel advice on 11 August, warning of serious damage and transport disruption and directing citizens in distress to the embassy in Bogotá. It advises Belgians who are safe to contact their families, noting that telephone and internet coverage has not been fully restored in every affected area. The ministry already advises against all travel to most of Chocó and against non-essential or all travel in several other parts of Colombia for broader security reasons.

There is also a modest commercial connection. The Belgian Foreign Trade Agency reports that Belgium exported €890.4 million in goods to Colombia in 2025, 13% more than in 2024, while imports reached €447.3 million, up 1%. Colombia nevertheless accounted for only 0.2% of Belgian exports and 0.1% of imports. For AWEX, Flanders Investment & Trade, hub.brussels and the companies they assist, the immediate concerns are staff safety, logistics, delayed deliveries and the ability of Colombian customers to honour contracts. The available evidence does not point to a material shock for Belgian household prices or Belgium’s overall economy.

The larger business story lies inside Colombia: whether emergency spending can move quickly without weakening oversight, and whether reconstruction reaches marginalised communities rather than concentrating on the most visible urban damage. Authorities must still locate missing people, refine the casualty register and establish which homes can be repaired. The next decisive figures will be the verified reconstruction cost, the financing plan and the timetable for reopening roads, hospitals and schools. Until those assessments are complete, both the human bilan and the economic one must be treated as provisional.