In the last hour, President officially declared a situation of national disaster as the preliminary death toll rose to at least 72.

This will allow the executive branch to bypass bureaucratic hurdles to more quickly mobilise emergency funds and reallocate state resources to the most affected regions.

The decision was taken as the president convened an emergency meeting at the crisis room of Colombia's National Unit for Disaster Risk Management in Bogotá.

The earthquake caused a tower of ' beloved cathedral to fall over. "A great many buildings" in the city sustained damage, administrator Jaime Zuluaga, 50, told AFP. "Traffic is paralyzed and people don't want to go back to their homes for fear of an aftershock."

Colombia's president Abelardo de la Espriella, who was just sworn in on Friday, said earlier that he was heading to Bogota to convene an emergency meeting.

"To the Colombians who are going through difficult times today, I want to say: You are not alone," he added.

Washington is "closely monitoring the large earthquake that struck Colombia and stands ready to support the people of Colombia," secretary of state wrote on X.

offered its assistance, as did president and 's .

Video posted on social media shows people fleeing as a building collapses during the powerful earthquake in Pereira, Colombia.

We have another update to the fast-changing death toll.

More than 70 people have died after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia, collapsing and severely damaging buildings in major cities including Cali and Pereira.

Citing government officials, the newspaper El Espectador said at least 72 people had been killed, 40 of them in Risaralda.

The mayor of Manizales, Jorge Eduardo Rojas Giraldo, said at least 12 buildings and 20 homes had been partially or completely or destroyed there.

At least 69 people have been killed in the Colombia earthquake that has trapped residents under debris of collapsed buildings and forced people to evacuate their homes.

The epicenter was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in the Chocó region about 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Bogota, according to the US Geological Survey and Colombia's counterpart. The USGS said it struck at a depth of 66 miles (107 kilometers). The quake also was felt in neighboring Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama, though minimal damage was reported there.

Local officials confirmed that at least 40 people were killed in the department of , where the hard-hit city of Pereira is located, and 27 people in the Valle del Cauca department, where Colombia's third-biggest city, Cali, is located. Two people also died in the city of .

At least three of those killed in Valle del Cauca were children, the governor said.

• At least 47 people have been killed, according to the latest figures from officials, and dozens of buildings have collapsed in cities across western Colombia. The quake caused serious damage to buildings and prompted evacuations as far away as Bogota.

• People remain trapped in Cali, one of Colombia's largest cities, ​after more than two dozen structures ‌collapsed, mayor Alejandro Eder said. ‌ He added that the city had asked authorities in Bogota and Medellin to send disaster teams ‌to support rescue efforts.

• Colombia's Geological Service said that it had been "the highest magnitude earthquake registered in Colombia in the last decade" and that it had been followed by two 2.8 and 4.8 magnitude aftershocks. Authorities also reported that flights were suspended in the airports of Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago y Buenaventura and Pereira.

• Colombian president Abelardo de la Espriella said in a post on X that he will personally supervise recovery efforts and install an emergency centre in San Jose del Palmar. The quake follows two back-to-back 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes in Venezuela in late June. Those earthquakes destroyed hundreds of buildings and killed more than 5,000 people.

• Manizales' mayor, Jorge Eduardo Rojas Giraldo, said more than 12 buildings and 20 homes had been partially or completely destroyed in that city. He said citizens needed to be "completely ready" for aftershocks.

• Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver in Colombia's third-biggest city, Cali, said he saw plumes of dust shoot up across the city from him home in the mountains as buildings collapsed after the earthquake. Residents in the city and rescue workers were already searching the rubble of collapsed buildings Monday morning.

• In Manizales, a city about 190 miles (300km) west of Bogota, one of the towers of the neo-Gothic cathedral collapsed and fell on the nave.

• In Cali, a city of 2m people, mayor Alejandro Eder said that residents were trapped in at least 19 buildings that had collapsed. Small earthquakes, known as "temblores," are common in central and western Colombia, but those above 6.0 magnitude are rare. In 1999, a 6.2 magnitude quake near the city of Armenia, killed more than 1,100 people.

• Six airports damaged in today's earthquake in Colombia have suspended operations, the civil aeronautics agency said. These airports in western Colombia serve Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, the agency wrote on X.

More photos of the damage caused by the earthquake in Colombia…

At least 47 people have been killed, according to the latest figures from officials, and dozens of buildings have collapsed in cities across western Colombia.

The quake caused serious damage to buildings and prompted evacuations as far away as Bogota.

Colombian president Abelardo de la Espriella says he will personally oversee recovery efforts. The quake was also felt in neighbouring Ecuador.

The death toll has been revised to 22, officials confirmed, after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake caused destruction in Colombia.

Local mayors had already announced the death of 20 people as a result of the natural disaster.

In Manizales, mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said a further person had been killed, bringing the figure to three.

One person has also died in Buenaventura, Colombia's main Pacific port, when a building collapsed.