Monday morning, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Western Colombia. The tremors caused buildings to collapse, including residential apartments, and significant infrastructure damage in Choco state and Valle del Cauca primarily, with damage impacting numerous cities including Cali, Manizales, and Pereira. As of Monday evening, over 110 deaths had already been confirmed by local authorities.
Earthquake Suspends Football in Colombia
With airports and roads closed or even damaged, and the emergency services focused on responding to the earthquake, it’s perhaps not a surprise that Colombia’s football federation opted to suspend all professional football activity in the country for at least a week, stating:
“DIMAYOR calls on the entire Colombian football family, its clubs, players, technical staff, workers, fans, and allies, to join efforts and accompany the country at this time. Today football can wait. Colombia needs us.”
Five top division clubs are located directly in the earthquake’s main impact zone, America de Cali and Deportivo Cali are located in Cali and operate their own stadiums, Once Caldas is the team based in Manizales, Deportes Tolima is in Ibague, and Deportivo Pereira represents Pereira. Their situation worsened by the fact that Pereira is undergoing significant financial problems. Deportes Quindio plays in Colombia’s second division, as does Boca Juniors de Cali.
On Sunday night, America de Cali supporters celebrated a home win over their rivals Atletico Nacional that moved them into 1st place in the top division, less than 12 hours later many of those same supporters saw the ground move under their feet.
Many of these clubs are already setting up aid collection points and donation centers to help Colombians rebuild their lives.
Libertadores and Sudamericana Ties Suspended by CONEMBOL
Two Colombian teams were set to take part in the upcoming Copa Sudamericana and Copa Libertadores knockout stage this week. Santa Fe’s matchup with River Plate of Argentina is suspended, while Independiente del Valle (Ecuador) vs Tolima is also suspended by the South American federation CONEMBOL. A rescheduled date for these matchups is not yet determined.
Palmeiras Jhon Arias Among Those Leading Relief Efforts
Jhon Arias, a winger for Colombia’s national team, and for the Brazilian giants Palmeiras is among those leading relief efforts for victims of the earthquake. Less than 24 hours after the earthquake struck his home state of Choco, Arias had organized and paid for a private plane to arrive in his hometown of Quibdo, one of the hardest hit areas. The plane carried doctors, rescue teams, and supplies to provide urgent humanitarian relief.
A number of football clubs globally, including Real Madrid, Benfica, and Bayern Munich also posted messages of support for the Colombian people at this time and urged their supporters to make aid donations.
Other well-known Colombian footballers also took to social media to respond to the natural disaster, Dayro Moreno of Once Caldas posted a video stating: “God is going to protect us and help us a lot. To all the families, a lot of strength”
while retired America de Cali player Éder Castañeda was directly helping in the search for survivors in collapsed buildings in Cali.
As was seen during the tragic earthquake in Venezuela, sporting clubs and supporter groups often play a key role in providing aid and solidarity to victims of natural disasters.
Main Photo Credit: smartframe images
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