A new magnitude 5.1 tremor shook Colombia this Wednesday, two weeks after the devastating earthquake of 7.4 that left 331 dead in the country.
The Colombian Geological Service (SGC) confirmed that the earthquake had its epicenter in Los Santos, Santander, at a depth of 149 kilometers, and occurred at 11:45 AM (local time).
The SGC specified that the epicenter was located seven kilometers from Los Santos, ten kilometers from Jordán, and seventeen kilometers from Zapatoca, all in the department of Santander.
In a preliminary report, the entity had recorded a magnitude of 5.4, which was adjusted to 5.1 minutes after the alert was issued.
The EFE agency classified the earthquake as the strongest recorded in Colombia since the earthquake of August 10, reflecting the ongoing seismic activity that keeps the Colombian population on alert.
The tremor was felt over a wide area of the national territory. In Bucaramanga, the capital of Santander and the city closest to the epicenter, the shaking was strong: evacuation alarms were activated in buildings and several schools requested that parents pick up their children. Many people took to the streets during the event.
In Bogotá, about 280 kilometers from the epicenter, citizens described the earthquake as "strong and brief" on the upper floors of buildings. Evacuations were reported in the Chapinero neighborhood and in several office buildings in the capital.
The earthquake was also reported in Medellín, Cúcuta, Ibagué, Manizales, Rionegro, Soacha, Itagüí, Barrancabermeja, Barichara, and Barbosa, among other places.
Over 800 responses from citizens were collected in the SGC's post on the social media platform X, reporting that they felt the tremor in various areas of the country.
As of the time of the reports, authorities had not reported any casualties, injuries, or material damage attributable to the earthquake on Wednesday.
The new tremor arrives at a time of heightened social sensitivity. The earthquake on August 10, with its epicenter in San José del Palmar, Chocó, was the most destructive in Colombia in decades and resulted in an official toll of 331 dead, 4,600 injured, 247 missing, and more than 154,000 families affected, according to data from the Colombian government released the day before.
Since that main earthquake, more than 325 aftershocks have been recorded, with magnitudes of up to 4.8. The Santander area where the tremor occurred this Wednesday is home to the so-called Bucaramanga Seismic Nest, one of the regions with the highest concentration of deep earthquakes in the world, making the occurrence of such events common in that region.
The greater depth of the earthquake this Wednesday—149 kilometers compared to the 96-110 kilometers of the August quake—partly explains why it could be felt across a vast area of the country without causing the damage that resulted from the disaster two weeks ago.
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