Aug. 11 (UPI) — Colombia entered a second day of search-and-rescue operations Tuesday after a magnitude-7.4 earthquake struck the country a day earlier, killing at least 182 people, injuring hundreds and destroying numerous buildings, according to local authorities.

Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management issued an updated report on the emergency. The earthquake has left 2,542 people injured and 189 missing.

The preliminary assessment found that 13,067 homes were damaged and 2,501 were destroyed. Authorities also reported damage to 93 health facilities, 884 educational institutions, 427 community centers and 77 roads.

Local authorities warned the death toll could rise as rescue crews continue searching damaged and collapsed structures.

The powerful earthquake caused extensive damage to healthcare facilities and other infrastructure across western Colombia. In Cali, the capital of Valle del Cauca, parts of the facade of the University Hospital of Valle partially collapsed, forcing the urgent evacuation of patients.

During a visit to Pereira, President Abelardo de la Espriella announced that authorities will conduct a census of people affected by the earthquake in the Risaralda department and provide them with financial relief on utility bills for three months as part of the recovery effort.

De la Espriella also said the government will implement a contingency plan to provide rental assistance to families who lost everything in the earthquake, Infobae reported.

Following the disaster, the national government has focused its efforts on searching for missing people, rescuing survivors and delivering humanitarian aid.

In Cali, authorities said at least 193 people remained trapped beneath the rubble of 56 residential and commercial buildings that collapsed.

The Cali mayor’s office said rescuers had pulled 37 people alive from the rubble in recent hours.

In one rescue, emergency crews found a mother and her 6-month-old baby alive beneath a concrete slab that collapsed inside their home. Rescuers were guided to them by a search dog’s alerts and the woman’s faint cries.

Video posted by InfoMundo on X showed emergency crews rescuing the baby alive from the rubble as search operations continued across the city.

In Pereira, the mayor’s office said 53 people remained trapped in 58 structures that were destroyed in the urban area. Rescue crews prioritized 15 buildings where search dogs and acoustic detection equipment identified possible signs of survivors.

Authorities in Pereira also coordinated a complex operation to evacuate 16 people trapped inside cabins of the city’s Megacable aerial cable car system.

The cable cars were left suspended dozens of feet above the ground immediately after the earthquake. After six hours of rappelling and vertical rescue operations by specialized personnel, all passengers were brought to safety, the mayor’s office said.

The national government and the Colombian Association of Capital Cities said more than 2,500 people remained missing or out of contact across the affected areas.

Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara told Radio Bli that more than 300 rescuers had been deployed to the most critical collapse sites. An additional 45 rescuers from Bogotá were also sent with canine search teams.

International assistance began arriving Tuesday. The U.S. government announced $15.5 million in humanitarian aid, while a 47-member urban search-and-rescue team from Ecuador, accompanied by canine units, joined the Colombian Red Cross and Colombian Civil Defense in rescue operations.

The Colombian Geological Service said the main earthquake struck at 7:34 a.m. local time, with its epicenter near the municipality of San José del Palmar in Chocó department at a depth of about 60 miles.

The agency described the earthquake as the longest-lasting seismic event recorded in Colombia in the 21st century, with intense shaking perceived for 40 to 50 seconds.

The earthquake’s intermediate depth allowed seismic waves to travel long distances through rigid rock inside the Earth without rapidly losing strength, prolonging the shaking at the surface. In parts of western Colombia, residents reported feeling the earthquake for as long as two minutes.

The Colombian Geological Service has recorded about 100 aftershocks, the strongest with a magnitude of 4.8.

Espriella formally declared a national state of disaster to accelerate the deployment of financial assistance and logistical resources to the affected areas.

After the earthquake, a major fire and violent disturbances broke out Monday night at a temporary detention center in Buenaventura in Valle del Cauca department, leaving four inmates dead, two injured and destroying much of the facility.

Following the earthquake, a major fire and violent disturbances broke out Monday night at a temporary detention center in Buenaventura in Valle del Cauca department, leaving four inmates dead, two injured and destroying much of the facility.

According to regional reports, the fire apparently started during a fight inside the detention center, which holds up to 400 people arrested in the act of committing a crime or are in the early stages of judicial proceedings, Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported.

Valle del Cauca Gov. Dilian Francisca Toro coordinated with the Justice Ministry to transfer inmates to other correctional facilities across the country.

The government authorized the immediate transfer of 117 high-profile inmates linked to peace processes and criminal gangs to prevent further violence or escapes amid the city’s humanitarian crisis.