{"id":462113,"date":"2026-08-11T10:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T08:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/08\/11\/terremoto-in-colombia-lue-mobilita-copernicus\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T11:07:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T09:07:07","slug":"earthquake-in-colombia-eu-activates-copernicus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/08\/11\/earthquake-in-colombia-eu-activates-copernicus\/","title":{"rendered":"Earthquake in Colombia; EU activates Copernicus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brussels \u2013 In the wake of the devastating earthquake that struck Colombia yesterday (10 August), the European Union is responding. After calling&nbsp;the Colombian Foreign Minister, <strong>Omar Bula<\/strong>, to express her condolences, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, <strong>Kaja Kallas<\/strong>, today <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kajakallas\/status\/2087046270619680905?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> that the EU \u201chas mobilised Copernicus, our satellite service, to support rescue and relief operations\u201d and is \u201cproviding funding to support the response, including through the Red Cross.\u201d The mobilisation had already been <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/vonderleyen\/status\/2086887535733580235?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced<\/a> yesterday by the President of the European Commission, <strong>Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong>, on her social media channels, with a promise to \u201cprovide further support\u201d if necessary.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, at 7.34 am local time (2.34 pm Italian time), the presidential republic was struck by a violent earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre near San Jos\u00e9 del Palmar, in the department of Choc\u00f3, in the north-west of the country. <strong>Felt in all 32 Colombian departmental capitals, including Bogot\u00e1, Cali, Manizales, and Armenia, the earthquake occurred at a depth of 82 kilometres.<\/strong> According to Asocapitales \u2013 a non-profit organisation founded in 2012 that brings together and represents the mayors of the departmental capitals of Colombia \u2013 the death toll is at least 132, with over 570 injured. The Colombian president, <strong>Abelardo De La Espriella<\/strong>, also reported around 700 injured and 188 missing in the Valle del Cauca alone, while search and rescue operations continue. In addition to the casualties, several buildings have completely collapsed, including sections of some hospitals.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span>The&nbsp;<a class=\"H23r4e\" href=\"https:\/\/climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu\/en\/metadata\/portals\/emergency-management-service?set_language=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS)<\/a> <\/span>is a European Union service that provides free geospatial data and rapid satellite maps for the management of natural disasters. <strong>In the event of earthquakes, the service processes optical and radar imagery (taken before and after the earthquake) to assess damage to buildings, roads, and critical infrastructure in support of rescue operations.<\/strong><span class=\"WBgIic Wg1cdb notranslate\"><span class=\"NMq1me\"><span> The service had already been deployed in June in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/07\/15\/earthquakes-in-venezuela-the-eu-allocates-e20-million-for-humanitarian-aid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Venezuela<\/a>. <\/span><\/span><\/span>Kallas stated that \u201cthe EU\u2019s consular crisis assistance mechanism has also been activated to support EU citizens caught in the disaster.\u201d This is a rapid coordination mechanism managed by the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the Member States, designed to protect and assist European citizens caught up in serious emergencies or disasters abroad, by facilitating operations such as evacuation or joint logistical and medical support. \u201cOur thoughts are with the victims, their families, the injured and all those affected,\u201d the High Representative reiterated.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Von der Leyen: &#8220;We have already mobilised our satellite service to assist with the rescue operations and we are ready to provide further support&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7908,"featured_media":462098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored 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