Native Californian recounts earthquake experience in Colombia
A native Californian, Mark Ericson grew up with earthquakes. But little could have prepared him for the once-in-a-decade quake that careened through Colombia on Monday.
The former TV journalist was inside his house in Cali, west of the capital Bogotá, when he felt a gentle rumbling that quickly morphed into convulsive tremors – lasting about 45 seconds to a minute.
Communities in Cali, the third-largest city in Colombia, have faced some of the most lethal impacts of the earthquake nationwide – with at least 95 people killed there alone, according to local agencies and authorities in the country. Multiple landslides trapped residents in parts of the city on Monday, the UN reported.
Across the country, those with disabilities are plagued by additional survival challenges, the global NGO, CARE International said on Tuesday. For Ericson’s son, who has autism, trying to escape the building “was very difficult,” he said.
Moments later, disoriented residents were streaming onto the streets, said Ericson. Just a couple of blocks away, an entire apartment building had collapsed, he told CNN. “It was chaos… Like you’re in one of those disaster movies,” said Ericson.
Nearly 24 hours after the earthquake first struck Colombia, paramedics are struggling to keep apace of emergency needs, according to Ericson, propelling civilians into action. “Everybody is just coming together to help each other out,” he said.
CNN’s Brooke Jenner and Christina Macfarlane contributed reporting.
