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August 13, 2026 / 12:46 PM EDT / CBS News Jahir Rodríguez knew what was happening when he saw thick, dark clouds forming near his home in western Colombia on Monday morning. Parts of his dear Pereira were crumbling. The urban planner and former professor also knows what happens next after a powerful earthquake devastates whole communities. He sprang into action after a deadly 1999 quake in Armenia, about 30 miles away from his current home, that killed around 1,200 people. He did so again three days ago when a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the same region, killing at least 265 people and trapping hundreds under debris across several states. "You feel a sense of powerlessness," Rodríguez said as he recalled seeing glass shattering and water seeping through the cracked and fallen walls of shaken buildings.
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He's seeing people making meals on the side of the road, and says it's hardest to think about what will come next for them. "Days and days and days, nights and nights and nights, months and months and months in a shelter waiting to be helped," he said.
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