Mexico has a contingent of 255 military personnel ready, including search-and-rescue specialists, physicians and canine teams, to support Colombia following the magnitude 7.4 earthquake, but their deployment depends on a formal request from the Colombian government.
President Claudia Sheinbaum reported Tuesday that the Armed Forces had begun assembling personnel, equipment and humanitarian aid to depart for Colombia as soon as authorization is received.
“We are waiting for the formal request from the Government of Colombia, but we are ready to go help whenever they tell us we can,” she said during her news conference at the National Palace.
The operation was named the Cali Task Force and would have a structure similar to the one used by Mexico during the emergency caused by the earthquakes in Venezuela in June.
National Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla Trejo explained that the contingent would be led by a general and his command group. The 255 military personnel include specialists in locating trapped people, rescue teams, healthcare personnel, and physicians.
Canine teams trained to search for survivors among collapsed structures would also participate.
“The Cali Task Force was immediately activated,” Trevilla said. “It would consist of a general, his command group and 255 military personnel, including search-and-rescue specialists.”
The Defense Secretariat has prepared four tons of medicine and 8.4 tons of tools and rescue equipment. The shipment also includes satellite phones, radios, electric generators, and tents to allow the group to operate autonomously in the affected areas.
The plan calls for transporting the personnel aboard two Boeing aircraft. The equipment, medicine and humanitarian aid would travel aboard a C-130 Hercules and a Spartan aircraft, bound for Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport, which serves Cali.
Trevilla did not establish a departure time because the deployment remains contingent upon the government of Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella formally accepting the assistance.
The intervention model is based on the contingent Mexico sent to Venezuela on June 25. That mission consisted of 261 personnel, including physicians, paramedics, rescue workers, and 18 canine teams.
The earthquake that struck Colombia occurred this Monday, August 10, at 7:34 a.m., with its epicenter in San José del Palmar, Chocó, at a depth of 103 kilometers.
The Colombian Geological Service identified it as the highest-magnitude earthquake recorded in the country during the 21st century.
Search operations continued Tuesday in Cali, Pereira and other communities in western Colombia. Local estimates placed the death toll at around 224, although the count remained subject to change as emergency teams gained access to the affected communities.
Thousands of homes were damaged, and disruptions to electricity, water and communications complicated the arrival of aid, while rescue workers, military personnel and residents continued removing debris in search of trapped people.
As Colombia focuses its efforts on saving lives, the Cali Task Force remains ready in Mexico, with personnel, search dogs, medicine and aircraft prepared to depart as soon as the official request arrives.
