A country shaken in seconds

At 7:34 a.m. on Monday, August 10, 2026, a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia. The Colombian Geological Service measured the quake at magnitude 7.4, with its epicenter in San José del Palmar, in the department of Chocó, at a depth of approximately 103 kilometers.

It was the strongest earthquake recorded in Colombia in the 21st century.

The shaking was felt across a large part of the country and was reported as far away as Panama and Venezuela. Western Colombia bore the brunt of the destruction, particularly Valle del Cauca, Risaralda, Chocó, Caldas, and Quindío, with major cities including Cali, Pereira, Manizales, Armenia, and Quibdó among those affected.

In the hours and days that followed, the scale of the disaster became increasingly clear. Apartment buildings, houses, churches, schools, health facilities, and other structures were damaged or collapsed. Roads and essential services were disrupted in some places, while rescue teams, firefighters, soldiers, civil-defense personnel, volunteers, neighbors, and families began the desperate work of searching for people trapped beneath the rubble.

By the evening of August 13, government figures reported by Reuters put the toll at at least 281 people dead, more than 3,900 injured, and 379 still reported missing. More than 10,500 homes were estimated to have been destroyed. More than 150 aftershocks had been recorded by then, prolonging the fear and making rescue and assessment work more dangerous.

These numbers remain provisional. Some communities, especially in remote areas, have been difficult to reach, and the situation continues to evolve.

Behind every statistic is a person, a family, a neighborhood, a story.

And among those stories are many belonging to the Vincentian Family.

The earthquake reaches the Vincentian Family

The Vincentian Family has a long and extensive presence in Colombia. Missionaries of the Congregation of the Mission, Daughters of Charity, members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, AIC volunteers, young people and lay Vincentians, as well as other congregations and associations inspired by the Vincentian charism, live and serve in many of the areas struck by the earthquake.

That meant that, almost immediately after the first reports emerged, a second question began circulating through Vincentian networks in Colombia and abroad: How are our brothers and sisters?

The first news was cautiously reassuring.

A communication circulated through the Colombian Vincentian network on August 10 indicating that, according to the information then available, the Daughters of Charity and Vincentian Missionaries were safe, although some communities and buildings had suffered significant material damage.

The International Council General of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SSVP) issued its own statement the same day. It said that it was maintaining contact with the presidents of Colombian Conferences and Councils in order to receive first-hand information about Vincentians and the communities most affected.

At that stage, the SSVP reported that there were no known fatalities among members of the Vincentian Family, although there was extensive material damage.

That was an early and necessarily provisional assessment.

Two days later came painful news that changed it.

Damage to the Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Manizales, Colombia. Source: Corazón de Paúl — Facebook

Elsa Valencia: the Vincentian Family loses one of its own

On August 12, the Vincentian communications network Corazón de Paúl reported the death of Elsa Valencia, a Vincentian volunteer with Alegría de Servir in Cali.

According to information communicated by members of that ministry, Elsa lost her life as a consequence of the earthquake.

Her death transformed what had until then been largely a story of damaged Vincentian buildings and shaken communities into something much more personal: the Vincentian Family itself had lost one of its members.

Alegría de Servir is associated with Vincentian volunteer service in Cali, within the wider environment of the AIC and the Daughters of Charity. Its very name — Joy of Serving — evokes the spirituality that shaped Elsa’s life.

Radio Vicentina in Chile, which subsequently reported her death, remembered her as a woman for whom joy, service, and charity had become concrete ways of loving God through other people.

Messages of condolence quickly crossed national borders.

Voluntarias Vicentinas AIC México expressed its sorrow and solidarity with the Vincentian volunteers of Cali, identifying Elsa as a Vincentian volunteer of Alegría de Servir and joining her companions in prayer. AIC El Salvador also shared news of her death.

Elsa’s death is a reminder of why initial disaster reports must always be read with caution. During the first chaotic hours after a major earthquake, communications fail, families are separated, hospitals receive unidentified patients, and information travels unevenly. The first reassuring report about the Vincentian Family reflected what was known at that moment. It was not the final story.

Elsa Valencia is now part of that story.

Behind the damaged churches, cracked walls, relief appeals, and photographs of rubble, there is also mourning.

Elsa Valencia, a Vincentian volunteer who died as a result of the earthquake. Source: Corazón de Paúl — Facebook

The Congregation of the Mission: damaged communities, but mission intact

One of the most substantial institutional responses came from Fr. Carlos Arley Cardona Salazar, C.M., Visitor of the Province of Colombia of the Congregation of the Mission.

In a message dated August 10, he addressed confreres, local communities, families, and friends of the Province at a moment, he wrote, of uncertainty, suffering, and concern.

His message was both pastoral and practical. He acknowledged that local communities of the Province had suffered structural damage, while emphasizing that the Province would have to remain united and accompany those affected.

He reminded the Vincentians that buildings can be damaged and material possessions lost while fraternity, faith, and mission remain.

More importantly, his message looked beyond the Congregation’s own losses. The concern was not only how to repair Vincentian buildings, but how the Vincentian Family could remain close to the suffering population.

In his words, the response should make solidarity a concrete expression of faith.

That intention is now being tested in several places.

The Apostolic House at Santa Rosa de Cabal

Among the most striking images circulated through Vincentian channels were those from the historic Vincentian Apostolic House in Santa Rosa de Cabal, in Risaralda.

Corazón de Paúl reported serious damage to the building, describing the house as living through critical hours. Photographs and videos showed visible damage to its structures and walls.

Santa Rosa de Cabal has an important place in Colombian Vincentian life, and the sight of a house associated with formation, community, and mission bearing the scars of the earthquake resonated strongly with Vincentians who know it.

Later posts returned to the same place with the language of reconstruction: the Apostolic House will rise again.

One widely shared image showed a statue of St. Vincent de Paul still standing amid the damage. For many who shared it, the image became a spontaneous symbol: not proof that Vincentian buildings had somehow been protected — clearly, they had not — but an image through which people expressed endurance, continuity, and hope amid destruction.

That distinction matters.

Christian faith does not require us to pretend that tragedy has spared holy places or faithful people. The damaged Apostolic House itself says otherwise. The power of such an image lies instead in what people see reflected in it: when walls fall, the vocation to serve remains standing.

Severe damage to the Apostolic House of the Vincentian Missionaries in Santa Rosa de Cabal. Source: Corazón de Paúl — Facebook

The St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Cali

The St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Cali, entrusted to the Vincentian Missionaries, was also affected.

Reports from Corazón de Paúl described visible damage to the church following the strong shaking. Cracks and other structural concerns meant that the building, like so many religious and civilian structures across the affected region, had to be treated with caution.

For a Vincentian parish, damage to a church is not simply damage to a building. Such spaces are centers of sacramental life, community organization, accompaniment, social assistance, and relationships built over many years.

In a disaster, however, priorities become very clear: people come before buildings.

Churches can be repaired. Lives cannot be replaced.

Damage to the Parish of St. Vincent de Paul in Cali. Source: Corazón de Paúl — Instagram

The Daughters of Charity in Cali: a beloved chapel closed by the damage

The earthquake also struck a particularly recognizable Vincentian place in Cali: the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, associated with the Daughters of Charity.

Initial reports and images circulated through Corazón de Paúl showing damage and debris inside the chapel.

This information was subsequently confirmed directly by Hermanas Vicentinas Cali, the Daughters of Charity’s local communication channel.

Their message was simple and unequivocal: because of the damage caused by the earthquake, the chapel would remain closed to the public until further notice.

For the many people who pray there, the closure carries an emotional weight beyond structural damage. The Miraculous Medal is deeply woven into Vincentian spirituality and popular Catholic devotion, and chapels dedicated to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal often become places where people bring their fears, illnesses, family struggles, and hopes.

Now the people who normally come there to pray are themselves living through a collective experience of fear and uncertainty.

The Daughters’ decision to close the chapel also expresses something important about responsible pastoral care after a disaster: faith does not mean ignoring structural danger. Protecting people from unsafe buildings is itself an act of service.

Damage to the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal of the Daughters of Charity in Cali. Source: Corazón de Paúl — Facebook

Santa Rosa de Cabal and the Sanctuary of the Miraculous Virgin

Another image that circulated widely through Vincentian networks came from Santa Rosa de Cabal, where the Sanctuary of the Miraculous Virgin was reported still standing despite the destruction seen elsewhere in the area.

Again, these images should be received with appropriate perspective.

They have understandably become sources of consolation to believers. But they exist within a landscape where other churches, Vincentian houses, homes, and public buildings did suffer damage.

The deeper Christian meaning is not that some sacred structure escaped while other people somehow lacked divine protection. Rather, religious symbols can become places around which frightened communities gather their hope.

In the days following the earthquake, prayer, practical solidarity, mourning, and rebuilding are not opposing responses.

For the Vincentian tradition, they belong together.

A voice from Bogotá: “Everything was shaking”

One of the clearest first-person Vincentian testimonies has come from Fr. Ramón García, F.C., a Son of Charity serving in Bogotá.

Although Bogotá is far from the areas that suffered the greatest destruction, the earthquake was powerful enough to be felt there.

In a message sent on August 11, Fr. Ramón described the shaking as violent and admitted that the community had been frightened because everything was shaking.

He then reassured those who had been trying to contact them.

Fr. Antonio, four aspirants living with the community, and Fr. Ramón himself were all safe.

The community did experience some minor damage. A water pipe broke at the parish, and one of the church windows was damaged, but nobody was injured.

There was another small detail in his testimony that captures something of the first hours after a disaster: the parish had lost its Internet connection. That explained why news from the community had not come immediately.

When communications fail, silence can become frightening for people waiting hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Fr. Ramón therefore expressed gratitude to all those who had sent messages, shown concern, and above all prayed for them. His final request was simple: remain united in prayer.

His testimony is important precisely because it is not dramatic.

Not every person who experiences a major earthquake is buried beneath rubble. Millions live through the terror of shaking walls, falling objects, interrupted communications, uncertainty about relatives, and the repeated anxiety of aftershocks.

That too is part of a disaster.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul: from information gathering to solidarity

The International Confederation of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul reacted on the day of the earthquake.

Its Council General said it was maintaining direct contact with Colombian SSVP Conferences and Councils to understand the situation both of Vincentians and of the wider affected population.

The international body also placed itself at the disposal of the National Council in Colombia to assist as needed.

This is a significant element of the response.

The SSVP is built on local Conferences whose members know neighborhoods, families, older people, isolated residents, and people living in poverty long before a disaster occurs. In an emergency, those existing relationships can become extraordinarily valuable.

The international statement also asked the entire Vincentian Family to pray for those who had died, for their families, and for everyone engaged in emergency operations.

At the time of writing, we have not found a detailed public report from the Colombian National Council specifying a nationwide SSVP relief operation or providing a later consolidated account of its activities.

That does not mean that local Vincentians are inactive. It means simply that we should not report activities as confirmed until reliable information is available.

The first task after a catastrophe is often not publicity. It is finding people, checking homes, contacting communities, identifying needs, and helping neighbors.

Solidarity begins to cross borders

The response is already moving beyond Colombia.

The Daughters of Charity in Spain have launched a solidarity appeal under the message “Colombia needs us.”

Their Spanish Provinces have called people to stand with individuals and families affected by the earthquake and have begun mobilizing financial solidarity.

The appeal is significant because the Vincentian Family’s response to disasters has historically worked through these relationships across countries and continents: a community suffers in one place, another raises funds elsewhere; local Vincentians know the real needs, while international branches can provide resources that local communities do not possess.

The Daughters of Charity in Spain had only recently been responding to another major earthquake crisis in neighboring Venezuela. Now they are once again asking their networks to turn attention toward Colombia.

AIC associations outside Colombia have likewise responded, particularly through prayer and solidarity following the death of Elsa Valencia.

The emergency is therefore beginning to reveal one of the distinctive strengths of the worldwide Vincentian Family: it is simultaneously local and international.

Its members can be present in the damaged neighborhood and, at the same time, connected to people capable of mobilizing assistance thousands of miles away.

Popayán: an appeal from a home bearing the name of St. Vincent

Following the earthquake, appeals began circulating for the Fundación Hogar para Ancianos San Vicente de Paúl in Popayán, a home serving older people.

Reports indicated that the earthquake caused damage at the facility, including damage around its chapel, and that assistance was needed. The Municipality of Popayán later reported supporting the removal of debris at the Fundación Hogar San Vicente de Paúl and other damaged sites.

Saint Vincent de Paul Nursing Home in Popayán. Source: Corazón de Paúl — Facebook

Corazón de Paúl: a communications lifeline during the emergency

One source has played a particularly important role in allowing Vincentians outside Colombia to understand what has happened: Corazón de Paúl, the Colombian Vincentian evangelization and communications network.

During the first hours and days after the earthquake, its Facebook and Instagram channels became a rapidly updated stream of information about both the national disaster and places connected with the Vincentian Family.

Through these channels came reports on the Apostolic House in Santa Rosa de Cabal, the St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Cali, the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal, the situation of Vincentian missionaries and Daughters of Charity, the Sanctuary in Santa Rosa, the death of Elsa Valencia, and the needs surrounding the home for older people in Popayán.

As with all reporting during a fast-moving disaster, social-media information must be evaluated carefully. Some posts relay eyewitness material; others reproduce information supplied by third parties; some symbolic stories spread faster than institutional confirmations.

But Corazón de Paúl has provided something extremely valuable: a network capable of connecting scattered Vincentian realities during a national emergency.

Communications is also a form of service.

When a community is damaged, someone has to tell the rest of the Family.

When a volunteer dies, someone has to make sure she is not reduced to an anonymous statistic.

When a house needs rebuilding, someone has to show the walls.

When unreliable rumors circulate, someone has to keep trying to distinguish what is known from what is not.

Between damaged walls and people who need help

The temptation after a disaster affecting religious communities is to focus on damaged religious property.

The photographs are powerful: a cracked church, rubble inside a chapel, broken masonry at a formation house, statues surrounded by debris.

Those things matter. They are part of the history and life of communities, and rebuilding them will require time and money.

But the charism received from St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac continually pushes attention beyond the walls.

Hundreds of people have died.

Thousands have been injured.

Hundreds are still missing.

Thousands of households have lost everything.

Older people, children, people with disabilities, people already living in poverty, and families in isolated communities face particular risks after the cameras move elsewhere.

Some communities have spent days without reliable water, electricity, gas, transportation, or communications. In remote areas, assistance has arrived slowly. Families are sleeping outside or afraid to return to damaged structures. Rescue workers and volunteers are exhausted.

This is the landscape in which the Vincentian Family now finds itself.

The question is therefore not merely, “What happened to our houses?”

The Vincentian question is also:

“Who is suffering around our houses?”

What the Vincentian Family is doing now

Four days after the earthquake, the response remains in an early phase, and caution is needed before describing operations that have not yet been publicly documented.

Nevertheless, several lines of action are already visible.

• First, communities are checking on their members and assessing damage. The Congregation of the Mission, the Daughters of Charity, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and other branches have been communicating across their networks to determine who is safe, what buildings have been damaged, and where the greatest needs are.
• Second, Vincentian institutions are accompanying affected communities. Fr. Carlos Arley Cardona’s message to the Province of Colombia explicitly commits the Vincentian Family to staying close to those who suffer and turning solidarity into concrete faith.
• Third, damaged Vincentian places are being secured and evaluated. The closure of the Daughters of Charity’s chapel in Cali is one clear example. Structures that may be unsafe must be inspected before normal activity resumes.
• Fourth, international networks are beginning to mobilize. The SSVP International Council has offered assistance to its Colombian National Council, while the Daughters of Charity in Spain have opened a solidarity campaign for those affected.
• Fifth, prayer networks have spread rapidly. Messages from the Congregation of the Mission, the Sons of Charity, SSVP, AIC associations, Daughters of Charity, and Vincentian communications networks repeatedly call the worldwide Family to remember the dead, the injured, those still missing, the displaced, rescue workers, and grieving families.
• Sixth, Vincentian communicators are documenting what is happening. That may sound secondary beside rescue work, but in a global Family it is indispensable. Reliable information enables prayer to become informed concern and concern to become coordinated assistance.

More concrete relief initiatives are likely to emerge as needs assessments become clearer.

And that may be when the hardest work begins.

Emergency teams eventually leave.

Television crews move on.

International attention shifts to another crisis.

But ruined homes still have to be rebuilt. Older people still need care. Families still need food and income. Children still need schools. People injured in the earthquake may require months or years of rehabilitation. Those who have lost relatives may need accompaniment long after funerals are over. Poor communities often recover much more slowly than wealthy ones.

That is precisely the kind of long, patient presence for which the Vincentian charism exists.

“We are all well” — and yet Colombia is not

The testimony of Fr. Ramón García from Bogotá captures one side of these days: fear, shaking, damaged glass, a broken pipe, lost Internet — and relief that everyone in the community was alive.

Elsa Valencia’s story captures another.

She did not survive.

Between those two realities lies the experience of an entire country.

Some people emerged from their homes frightened but unharmed.

Some lost everything they owned.

Some are still waiting beside ruins for news.

Some are burying people they loved.

Some are distributing food.

Some are removing debris.

Some are opening shelters.

Some are evaluating churches and houses that can no longer safely be entered.

Some are praying because, for the moment, that is the only thing they can do.

The Vincentian Family is present among all of them.

A Family called to stay

There will be time to rebuild the Apostolic House.

There will be time to repair the St. Vincent de Paul Parish.

There will be time to reopen the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal.

There will be time to assess other Vincentian properties whose damage has not yet been fully reported.

But Colombia’s deepest wounds will not be measured only in concrete, stone, glass, or roofs.

They will be found in empty chairs at family tables, interrupted lives, people suddenly without homes, frightened children, grieving communities, and poor families for whom recovery may take years.

This is where the worldwide Vincentian Family can recognize its mission.

St. Vincent de Paul repeatedly taught through his life that suffering must be met not only with emotion but with organized charity. St. Louise de Marillac showed that compassion becomes effective when attention to the person is joined to practical intelligence, collaboration, perseverance, and care for details.

Colombia now needs both.

It needs prayer and money.

Presence and organization.

Emergency relief and long-term rebuilding.

Local knowledge and international solidarity.

And it needs the world not to forget when the earthquake disappears from the headlines.

For the Vincentian Family, that may be the most important commitment of all: to remain when others have gone.

Information in this report reflects what could be verified through August 14, 2026. Casualty figures and assessments of damage are still changing.