Last updated Wednesday, August 19, 2026. The update directly below is the current picture. Everything after it is the post as written on August 15 and has been left that way rather than quietly rewritten, so where the two disagree, the update is the newer figure. We are not running rolling updates beyond this, and conditions change daily, so for anything time-sensitive check Aeronáutica Civil for airports, your own government’s travel advice, and your airline directly.
Update: Wednesday, August 19, 2026
The official toll has risen sharply. The UNGRD’s balance for Tuesday, August 18, with a cutoff of 6:30 a.m., puts it at 304 dead, 4,548 injured, 426 missing, and 356 people rescued. The emergency now spans 15 departments and 472 municipalities, with 123,789 families, some 292,043 people, affected. Housing damage stands at 134,342 homes damaged and 29,554 destroyed, with 267 buildings collapsed. Those totals are far above the ones further down this page, which reflects assessment teams reaching municipalities that had not been surveyed a week ago as much as it reflects new damage.
Pereira has published its own count. The city recorded 98 dead, 259 injured, and 132 missing as of August 18, with around 40,000 families affected, 32,200 homes damaged, 165 schools hit, and seven health centers. Demolition of buildings judged too damaged to stand has begun, including a fifteen-story block in the Álamos neighborhood. Emergency and inpatient areas at the city’s hospitals are reported at 98% occupancy, and intensive care at 80%. The “more than 100 deaths” figure below came from earlier regional reporting; 98 is the city-level count in the August 18 balance.
Aftershocks are continuing. The Servicio Geológico Colombiano had logged 336 aftershocks by the evening of August 17, of which 21 were above magnitude 3.0 and two above magnitude 4.0, concentrated around San José del Palmar, El Litoral del San Juan, and Sipí.
The rain arrived as forecast. Heavy rain on August 17 brought flooding and further damage across Buenaventura and parts of Chocó, including to shelters housing displaced families. The FCDO’s specific warning for August 16 and 17 has since come off its page, but ground already saturated on slopes loosened by a major earthquake stays a landslide risk for weeks rather than days.
Airports: no change we can confirm. Aeronáutica Civil has published no operational bulletin newer than the August 11 one the table below is built from. Matecaña in Pereira is still shut to commercial flights, and the FCDO page updated on August 18 still lists it as closed. The roughly ten-day repair timeline Colombian outlets reported would put commercial flights back around August 22, and no authority has confirmed that date. Check with your airline rather than booking against it.
Travel advice is unchanged in substance. The FCDO updated its Colombia page on August 18. It has added no advice against travel on earthquake grounds, and the areas it already advised against all but essential travel to are unrelated to the quake.
Our advice on the Coffee Region has not changed. The region is nine days into an emergency response, with demolitions underway, hospitals at capacity, and aftershocks daily. Postponing is still the call we would make.
On the morning of Monday, August 10, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia. It has killed more than 280 people. Colombia is a country we write about constantly and enthusiastically, and it would be strange to carry on publishing itineraries this week without naming what has happened.
So this post does three things. It sets out what is known. It says plainly which parts of the country are not places to take a holiday right now. And it gives the current operating picture for everywhere else, because the difference between those two things is the whole point.
What Happened
The quake hit at 7:34 a.m. Colombian time, with its epicentre about 5 kilometers south of San José del Palmar in the department of Chocó. The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 7.4 and the depth at roughly 110 kilometers; the Servicio Geológico Colombiano measured the depth slightly shallower, at about 96 kilometers.
That depth matters. A rupture that far down spreads its energy over a very wide area rather than concentrating it at one point, which is why the shaking was felt across most of western and central Colombia, in Bogotá, and as far as Ecuador and Panama, and why no tsunami warning was issued. Close to a hundred aftershocks had been recorded by the following morning.
As of August 14, the official figures stood at more than 288 dead, over 4,000 injured, and more than 200 people still missing. Those numbers have moved every day since the quake and will almost certainly have moved again by the time you read this.
The damage runs well beyond the headline count: roughly 75,000 homes damaged and more than 12,500 destroyed, 172 apartment buildings collapsed, and damage recorded to 226 roads, 217 health facilities, 2,206 schools, 32 bridges, and 71 aqueducts. President Abelardo de la Espriella declared a national disaster and an economic emergency, activated a World Bank credit line, and deployed the military to the worst-hit areas.
The Coffee Region Is Not a Destination Right Now
We need to be direct about this, because the Coffee Region is one of the places this site sends people most often.
Pereira has recorded more than 100 deaths and over 65 building collapses. Quindío department has more than 10,000 damaged homes. In Manizales, the tower of the Catedral Basílica came down. Armenia has nearly 200 injured and five collapsed buildings. Salento, which sits about an hour from Pereira and which our own guides recommend, was inside the affected zone.
Matecaña airport in Pereira, the region’s main air gateway, partially collapsed and is still shut to commercial flights.
The UK Foreign Office warned on August 14 that heavy rainfall and thunderstorms were expected across the earthquake-affected region on Sunday, August 16 and Monday, August 17, and that these “can cause flash flooding and landslides,” with disruption to travel and further damage to property and infrastructure. That rain arrived on August 17 and flooded parts of Buenaventura and Chocó. The FCDO has since taken the warning off its page.
Saturated ground on slopes already destabilised by a major earthquake is a serious landslide risk, and it stays one for weeks after the rain stops, not days. If you are anywhere in the affected area, follow local authority instructions.
The advice we would give a friend is to postpone, not to reroute. You may see suggestions to reach the Coffee Region by land now that some nearby airports have reopened. We would not do that. Roads through the region are damaged, the landslide risk is elevated on ground the rain has since saturated, and leisure traffic on those routes competes directly with relief convoys for road capacity. The same goes for beds, water, and fuel in towns hosting displaced families.
Postponing costs you a few months. Arriving costs someone else a place in the queue. Contact your operator: most are waiving change fees, and rebooking rather than canceling outright keeps money in the region for when it can actually be used.
Airport Status
The table below reflects Aeronáutica Civil’s reopening bulletin of August 11 and the US Embassy in Bogotá’s Update 3 of August 13. It is the most recent consolidated picture we can confirm, and it is already several days old.
| Airport | City | Status as of August 13 |
|---|---|---|
| El Dorado (BOG) | Bogotá | Operating. Not listed as affected. |
| Rafael Núñez (CTG) | Cartagena | Operating. Not listed as affected. |
| José María Córdova (MDE) | Medellín | Open to commercial flights, delays reported. |
| Alfonso Bonilla Aragón (CLO) | Cali | Operating normally, no infrastructure damage reported. |
| El Edén (AXM) | Armenia | Reopened to commercial flights. Not available as an alternate airport. |
| La Nubia (MZL) | Manizales | Reopened, operating as an uncontrolled airport while the control tower is repaired. |
| El Caraño (UIB) | Quibdó | Reopened to normal commercial operations. |
| Gerardo Tobar López (BUN) | Buenaventura | Reopened, operating as an uncontrolled airport. |
| Matecaña (PEI) | Pereira | Closed to commercial flights. State, medical, search and rescue, and humanitarian only. |
| Santa Ana (CRC) | Cartago | Emergency and humanitarian flights only. |
| Guillermo León Valencia (PPN) | Popayán | Closed. Volcanic ash, not earthquake damage. |
Three things worth pulling out of that table.
Pereira is the outstanding closure. It stays shut while crews deal with fissures in the runway, a disconnected air traffic communications system, and a structural evaluation of the control tower. Colombian outlets reported on August 12 that debris had been cleared and the working timeline was around ten days, which would mean commercial flights resuming near August 22. Aerocivil has not confirmed that. Do not book against it.
Manizales and Armenia are open, but not fully. Manizales is running without a functioning control tower, which cracked and lost windows in the quake. Armenia has reopened to commercial traffic but cannot currently serve as a diversion airport for other aircraft, which makes it more vulnerable to knock-on cancellations in bad weather. In a region that has taken heavy rain since, that is not academic.
Popayán is closed for an unrelated reason. The Puracé volcano has been on orange alert since August 1 and has been emitting ash columns reaching several hundred meters above the crater, which grounded flights on August 10. This gets folded into earthquake coverage because the dates coincide, but it is a separate hazard on its own timeline, and it will not clear when the earthquake repairs finish.
What Is Operating Normally
We are deliberately not going to tell you that any part of Colombia is “safe,” because that is not a claim this site makes on its own authority and it is not a claim anyone can honestly make this soon after an event like this.
Our standing position on that question, with each government’s advice quoted and dated, is on our Is Colombia Safe? page, and it is not written for a week like this one.
What we can tell you is narrower and more useful: the following regions do not appear on Aeronáutica Civil’s list of affected airports, and no government has issued earthquake-related advice against traveling to them.
- Bogotá. Shaking was felt strongly and the city logged over 460 damage reports, but the airport and the city are functioning.
- Cartagena and the Caribbean coast, including Santa Marta, Barranquilla, and Tayrona. Roughly 700 kilometers from the epicentre, on the opposite side of the country. No reported impact.
- Medellín. Peripheral damage only. The airport is open, with delays.
- San Andrés and Providencia. Unaffected.
- The Amazon, Boyacá, Santander, and the Guajira. Unaffected.
The earthquake struck the Pacific and Andean west. Colombia is a large country, and a great deal of it is a long way from Chocó.
One correction to our own coverage: the Petronio Álvarez festival in Cali, which we wrote about twice this month and which was due to run to August 17, was suspended by the city on August 11. Mayor Alejandro Eder cited force majeure. No new date has been set, and the Ciudadela Petronio site is now serving as a collection center for relief supplies.
If You Have a Trip Booked
Call your airline, not the airport. Airport websites and social accounts have lagged behind the actual operating position all week. Airlines have been issuing waivers and rebooking without fees on affected routes.
Check whether your itinerary actually touches the affected zone. A Bogotá and Cartagena trip is in a different situation from a Coffee Region trip. Read the airport table above against your own flights rather than against the headlines.
Talk to your insurer now, not later. Natural disaster clauses often hinge on whether an official advisory was in place when you booked and when you travel. Get the position in writing while the dates are current.
If you are in Colombia, both the FCDO and the US Embassy advise following local authority instructions, staying clear of damaged buildings, and expecting continued aftershocks. The US Embassy in Bogotá published near-daily updates through the first week; its most recent, Update 4, is dated August 14.
How to Help
Cash is the useful donation. It converts immediately into whatever is actually scarce that day, which changes constantly, it costs nothing to ship, it clears no customs, and spent through Colombian suppliers it keeps local businesses trading while they rebuild. Collected goods do the opposite: they arrive slowly, in the wrong proportions, and consume the transport capacity that relief needs.
- Cruz Roja Colombiana is running search and rescue, medical care, and psychosocial support. It has also issued an urgent appeal for blood donations, which is worth knowing if you are in Colombia and able to give.
- The IFRC’s Colombia Earthquake 2026 appeal has a target of CHF 25 million and funds the Red Cross response nationally.
- World Central Kitchen has teams and local partners serving meals across the affected area.
Why We Are Not Telling You to Write Off Colombia
There is a version of this post that opens with reassurance and works backwards, and we did not want to write it. More than 300 people are dead and more than 400 are still missing. That deserves to be the first thing said, not a preamble to a sales pitch.
But the honest reading of the evidence is that this was a regional disaster in a country the size of France and Spain combined, and the reflex to cancel everything is worth resisting. Cartagena did not feel it. Santa Marta did not feel it. The people who lose most from a blanket withdrawal are not airlines or hotel chains, they are the guides, drivers, cooks, and family-run posadas whose entire year runs on these months, in regions that took no damage at all.
Both things are true at once. Do not go to the Coffee Region this month. Do not cancel Cartagena because of an earthquake that happened 700 kilometers away.
When the Coffee Region is ready for visitors again, it will need them badly, and we will say so here.
Sources
- USGS, M 7.4, 5 km S of San José del Palmar, Colombia
- Aeronáutica Civil, gradual reopening and operational status of airports, August 11, 2026
- US Embassy in Colombia, Earthquake Update 3, August 13, 2026
- UK FCDO, Colombia travel advice, updated August 18, 2026
- Alcaldía de Santiago de Cali, suspension of the Petronio Álvarez festival, August 11, 2026
Sources for the August 19 update:
- UNGRD, official balance of August 18, 2026, as reported by El Universal, Vanguardia, and Infobae
- Servicio Geológico Colombiano aftershock count to August 17, via El Tiempo
- City Tv, Pereira city figures and demolitions, August 18, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I cancel my trip to Colombia after the August 2026 earthquake?
It depends entirely on where you were going. The damage is concentrated in Chocó, Risaralda, Quindío, Caldas, and Valle del Cauca. If your trip runs through the Coffee Region in the next few weeks, postponing is the sensible call, and most operators are waiving change fees. If you were heading to Bogotá, Cartagena, Santa Marta, or the Caribbean coast, none of those appear on the civil aviation authority's list of affected airports, and no government has advised against travel to them on earthquake grounds.
Which Colombian airports are open after the earthquake?
As of August 19, Pereira's Matecaña is still closed to commercial traffic and is handling only state, medical, search and rescue, and humanitarian flights. Cali, Quibdó, Armenia, Manizales, and Buenaventura resumed commercial flights in the first week after the quake, some with restrictions. Cartago is emergency-only. Popayán is closed because of volcanic ash from Puracé, which is a separate event from the earthquake. Bogotá, Medellín, and Cartagena do not appear on the affected list, though Medellín has reported delays.
When will Pereira airport reopen?
Aeronáutica Civil has not confirmed a date, and as of August 19 it has published no operational bulletin newer than the one dated August 11. Colombian outlets reported on August 12 that crews had cleared debris and were working to a roughly ten-day timeline, which would put commercial flights back around August 22. Treat that as a target rather than a booking. Reopening depends on structural evaluation of the control tower and repairs to fissures in the runway.
Is the Coffee Region safe to visit right now?
The region is in active emergency response. In the official balance of August 18, Pereira had recorded 98 deaths and around 32,200 damaged homes, with hospital emergency areas at 98% occupancy and demolition of unsafe buildings underway. The Servicio Geológico Colombiano had logged 336 aftershocks by August 17, and heavy rain that day brought flooding to parts of the affected area. We are not in a position to tell you a place under those conditions is safe, and we would not book a holiday into it this month.