Earthquake that shook Colombia hits mobile signal: 3,403 stations offline in seven departments

Colombia's mobile communication infrastructure suffered significant disruption following a powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake. The quake, which struck San José del Palmar in the Chocó region, rendered 3,403 of the 7,379 base stations unavailable across seven departments. This outage represented an aggregated 46.1% loss of mobile signal availability.

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The availability of mobile signal registered an aggregated affectation of 46.1% in seven departments after the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that occurred in San José del Palmar, Chocó.

Risaralda province experienced the most severe impact, with 77.0% of its 631 base stations going offline. Valle del Cauca followed closely, reporting 57.8% of its 3,486 stations out of service. Other departments also faced considerable disruptions: Quindío reported 44.3% of its stations down, Cauca 40.8%, Caldas 28.0%, and Chocó 24.7%. Tolima registered the lowest disruption rate among the affected regions, with 13.8% of its 1,078 stations unavailable.

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Risaralda registered the highest percentage of unavailability, with 486 of its 631 base stations out of service, equivalent to 77.0%.

The earthquake occurred around 7:34 a.m. on Monday, August 10th, with its epicenter located 96 kilometers deep in Chocó. The tremors were widely felt across the country, leading to reported evacuations in major urban centers such as Bogotá, Manizales, and Medellín, as well as in the Eje Cafetero region, Tolima, and Huila. The seismic event highlighted the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to natural disasters in the region.

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Valle del Cauca appears in second place by relative affectation, with 2,014 stations unavailable out of a total of 3,486, that is, 57.8%.