A guide to earthquake aid: What victims need to know before rebuilding and how tragedy can become prevention

Cali and Colombia’s national authorities have drawn up a relief route for families affected by the powerful earthquake that struck on Aug. 10. The plan combines temporary housing assistance with mandatory urban-planning procedures before reconstruction begins.

Under Resolution 0765, issued by the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, each eligible household can receive 1,050,543 pesos a month for three months. The payment equals 60% of the legal minimum wage and comes as one grant per household, not one payment for every family member.

To qualify, household heads must meet both conditions: they must appear in the Unified Registry of Disaster Victims, known as the RUD, and their home must be classified as destroyed or uninhabitable. Homes that remain standing and habitable, even if they have cracks or other damage, do not qualify for the cash payment. Those families are instead awaiting possible assistance through a materials bank.

The city says information from the emergency family registry is being transferred into the RUD. Registration alone does not guarantee payment. The disaster agency is checking records against the national civil registry and conducting field validations to detect false documents and duplicate applications. An initial review on Aug. 24 identified 11,616 families as preliminarily eligible. The second and final registration cutoff is Sept. 4, 2026.

Cali’s Risk Management Secretariat continues to send technical inspection teams to classify buildings with a color-coded system. At the city council, an extraordinary plenary session pressed officials to move beyond immediate aid and make earthquake prevention a lasting urban policy. Councilwoman Tania Fernández also demanded updated seismic microzonation, while residents in parts of northern and southern Cali continued to await technical visits.