Colombia Struck by Magnitude 6.7 Earthquake, No Damage Reported

By Oscar Medina & Nathan Gill - Aug 13, 2013 1:29 PM ET

 
Colombia was struck by its largest earthquake in six years today, shaking buildings in Medellin and felt as far away as Panama City. No damage or casualties have been reported.

There were “no victims to mourn and nothing to fear,” President Juan Manuel Santos said in a statement on Twitter.

The 6.7-magnitude quake struck 63 miles (101 kilometers) west of the coastal city of Mutis at a depth of 2.7 miles at 10:43 a.m. local time, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its website. There is no risk of a tsunami, Carlos Ivan Marquez, the head of risk management at the country’s disaster agency known as UNGRD, said in a telephone interview.

Ecopetrol SA (ECOPETL), Colombia’s state-controlled oil producer, has had no reports of damage, the company said today in an e-mailed response to questions.

The earthquake was Colombia’s largest since a 6.8-magnitude temblor hit the Andean nation’s west coast in September 2007, according to the USGS. Colombia, a coffee, oil and metal producing country, is located on South America’s northwestern Pacific and Caribbean coasts.

To contact the reporters on this story: Oscar Medina in Bogota at omedinacruz@bloomberg.net; Nathan Gill in Quito at ngill4@bloomberg.net


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