Dated evidence · Reviewed October 12, 2026
These newer recovery reports accompany the historical research below. Its August figures retain their original dates.
Earthquake recovery · Chocó, Colombia
Announcement date:
UNGRD announced the first temporary housing-support payment for eligible households after the 10 August earthquake. The announcement’s payment window is historical; consult official channels for current availability.
Colombia UNGRD ↗Historical response snapshot →Editorial snapshot: . External events are organized by the linked institutions. Future AI Humane Society hackathons will be announced on our Hackathons page.
This initiative began after the June earthquakes in Venezuela. When a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia on August 10, its purpose became urgent again: carry forward open-source foundations, invite validation from Colombian responders and local experts, and prototype tools for low-connectivity conditions.
Situation snapshot verified at 19:18 UTC · August 11, 2026
What we know
USGS places the reviewed M7.4 mainshock 5 km south of San José del Palmar, Chocó, at a depth of 110.3 km. A magnitude 5.0 event followed 44 minutes later in the same area. The national SGC bulletin also reports M7.4; origin parameters may continue to be refined.
Early field reporting describes deaths, injuries, trapped people, and hundreds of damaged buildings across more than 20 municipalities, including Pereira, Quibdó, Cali, and Manizales. Chocó's rural geography — where many communities are reached by boat or air — and limited connectivity make assessment and coordination unusually difficult.
USGS models strong shaking for roughly 1.56 million people. Its ground-failure models flag red liquefaction exposure and orange landslide exposure. These are modelled hazard indicators, not confirmed damage counts; they point builders toward access mapping, field verification, and safe structural triage.
If you are in Colombia
This page is not an emergency service. These actions come from Colombian public authorities and should take priority over any hackathon activity.
Call Colombia's free national emergency line. Keep the line available for real emergencies and give the clearest location you can.
Call 123Stay clear of visibly damaged structures, use stairs rather than elevators, and do not move fallen cables, posts, or unstable debris. Report hazards to emergency services.
Read official safety guidance ↗Check SGC for earthquakes and UNGRD for national response information. Do not forward voice notes, donation links, or missing-person records you cannot verify.
Open SGC updates ↗Do not enter collapsed buildings, self-deploy to restricted zones, or send money or supplies to unverified accounts. Wait for requests from recognized Colombian response organizations.
Build for Colombia
Each priority below reuses a working Apache-2.0 starter from the existing earthquake hackathon. A useful contribution can be a small, validated improvement: Spanish copy, offline support, Colombian place data, an SGC feed adapter, or a safer field workflow.
Merge public imagery, OpenStreetMap, and timestamped field reports without presenting model output as confirmed damage. Prioritize Chocó, Risaralda, Valle del Cauca, and Caldas.
Create low-bandwidth, store-and-forward situation updates for rural communities where internet and road access are limited. Make every critical flow usable in Spanish and on a basic phone.
Turn SGC and USGS public feeds into plain-language aftershock and building-safety guidance. Never label a building safe without an authorized structural assessment.
Help trusted organizations publish and reconcile verified needs, stock, routes, and delivery status. Design for intermittent connectivity and prevent duplicate or stale requests.
Trace claims back to SGC, UNGRD, local authorities, and recognized responders. Preserve uncertainty and timestamps; never turn unverified social posts into operational facts.
Improve privacy-preserving family reunification and agency coordination. Keep the code fully open and use synthetic data; each adopting organization must provide its own governed environment before using real personal data.
Deployment guardrails
Speed matters, but unverified disaster software can create new harm. Prototype openly and keep the path to responsible field use explicit.
More than code
We need people who understand the places, institutions, language, and field constraints — alongside people who can build the software.
Verified sources
Technical parameters come from official seismic systems; human-impact reporting is cross-checked and clearly marked provisional. Open the original source before reusing a number.
Research snapshot: August 11, 2026 at 19:18 UTC. Parameters and impacts will change as agencies validate new reports.
