Rescue teams are frantically fighting through the rubble of collapsed buildings to find survivors and recover bodies a day after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake shook western Colombia.

The powerful quake has caused at least 254 deaths nationwide, with the highest concentration of casualties reported in the cities of Pereira and Cali, according to government figures.

For many residents, the disaster unfolded in terrifying seconds. Luis Saenz, a twenty-two-year-old journalism student from Cali, recalled that the earthquake felt eternal. He was at home enjoying his morning coffee when the tremor struck at 7:34 am on Monday. He remembers his cat darting under the bed and immediate chaos as his family fled into the street.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, some 5,000 homes suffered damage, and dozens of residential and commercial buildings collapsed entirely. In Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, at least 95 people died, and 45 structures fully or partially collapsed, local government statistics show.

Maria Isabel Cumbal watched rescue efforts unfold at the Vanessa Building in the south of the city, sobbing as she expressed disbelief at the devastation. The seven-storey residential apartment block was reduced to a mound of wreckage in the disaster.

Rescuers are now wielding hammers, shovels, and heavy machinery to pierce through thick slabs of concrete and reach an estimated 20 people trapped underneath. Hundreds of volunteers are assisting around the collapsed residence, clearing debris by forming a human chain to pass buckets from the top of the mound down to dump trucks. Every so often, a rescuer holds up a fist to call for absolute silence so that emergency responders can listen closely for faint signs of life.