Colombia says it will only accept rescue teams from four countries, as earthquake survival window closes

By Gonzalo Zegarra, CNN

(CNN) — Emergency teams in Colombia are searching desperately for survivors of an earthquake that has killed at least 273 people as the crucial window for rescues drew to a close on Thursday, with the government still only accepting help from a handful of countries.

Nearly 380 people are still missing, Colombia’s agency for disaster preparedness and response said Thursday, after the quake damaged homes, schools, bridges and airports across a large swathe of the country.

“Our main efforts are focused on the missing,” said President Abelardo De la Espriella in a statement late Wednesday, calling for unity.

Monday’s devastating earthquake, the worst to hit Colombia in decades, posed an early test for the newly inaugurated leader. His government has surprised some by turning down or limiting help from several countries in the region, after they offered immediate assistance following the 7.4 magnitude quake.

On Wednesday, the newly appointed head for the disaster preparedness and response agency said the government would request rescue teams from only four countries: the US, El Salvador, Ecuador and Israel. In Colombia’s view, only those countries’ rescue teams have the international and national certifications required for the job, said National Unit for Disaster Risk Management director David Tamayo Roldán.

Organizations including the United Nations and Mexico’s famed “Topos” rescue brigade initially said they had not received a request for help with search and rescue. Aid agencies warn there is a critical 72-hour window after which the possibility of finding anyone alive in the rubble of collapsed buildings drops dramatically.

The Colombian Foreign Ministry has said it was preparing a list of “specific needs” to request international aid and that it had asked the United Nations Development Programme to provide support. In a statement, Foreign Minister Omar Bula also said that Colombia has “not excluded absolutely any country in terms of the offers that have been made to us,” adding, “We work with countries without any ideological or political consideration.”

Political scientist Sandra Borda linked the difficulties to the tense political transition between the current and previous administrations and said the new government showed “a deep distrust of some parts of the international community,” which she considered “difficult to understand.”

She added that there was “no clarity about the procedure that was to be followed.”

“There was a perception from the beginning that the rescue teams would be sufficient, although a technical assessment was never made public to confirm that they would indeed be enough to deal with all the damage and destruction caused by the earthquake,” she said.

It has also been unclear where international personnel are needed. The emergency chief of the fire department in Cali, one of the most affected cities, warned volunteers not to approach collapsed sites “because there are already enough specialized personnel to carry out the rescue work without complications.”

The Topos Tlatelolco Rescue Brigade, a Mexican group with extensive experience responding to natural disasters, said Wednesday that Colombian authorities “will not allow the entry of external rescue groups” because the work is being handled by national rescuers.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed that her government was in contact with Colombia, but said its government had not given its approval to rescuers, who were “ready to leave at any moment.”

“We are sending, via Hercules planes, food supplies, medical supplies, and other things they’ve requested. But yes, just to clarify: the rescue brigade from the Secretariat of National Defense was not approved by the Government of Colombia,” she said.

Meanwhile, in Pereira, one of the most severely affected cities, the foreign ministry celebrated the arrival of 19.5 tons of aid from Mexico.

“Additional flights are expected in the coming days. Colombia is not alone! The international community is with us,” the ministry said on X.

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Michael Rios contributed to this report.