The Aug. 10 earthquake was the strongest to strike Colombia this century and the country’s most powerful since an 8.1-magnitude quake hit in 1979.
It killed about 300 people and left more than 4,500 injured. Hundreds of people are still unaccounted for.
At least 1,600 homes in the western part of Columbia were destroyed, and thousands more were damaged, but Gabriel Matienzo, deputy country director and a member of the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) for Samaritan's Purse, says things are slowly coming back together.
"Some people can return to their homes, but some people cannot," he reports. "The people who can return to their homes, they have roofs that are broken, and they definitely can't repair them. They need some sort of plastics to cover them from the rain."
He says the earthquake has presented ministry opportunities.
"We've seen the church responding," Matienzo relays. "We are working alongside, in partnership with the local church, and they have responded in a fantastic way."
Samaritans Purse has selected seven different churches in the affected area to be used as distribution hubs, and Matienzo says they are about to start training the pastors in trauma recovery so they can help meet some mental health needs in addition to the spiritual ones.
"We have been doing a lot of logistics in order to get the supplies fast to the most vulnerable ones," he tells AFN. "We've been working alongside the pastors, the church members, the volunteers, training them how to cut the tarps."
Samaritan's Purse has been in Columbia for almost a decade, helping with the refugee crisis from neighboring Venezuela, which endured back-to-back earthquakes just weeks ago.
The ministry quickly airlifted 100,000 pounds of relief, including shelter supplies, solar lights, and hygiene kits, to Colombia to assist families, but damaged roads, communications outages, and difficult terrain have complicated efforts to reach the remote communities that were affected.
"Please pray as we respond," Samaritan's Purse requests. "Ask God to guide emergency responders and protect the many survivors who are suffering. Pray also that He would comfort grieving families and that they would experience the hope of His presence in their lives."
