The desperate plea of two girls whose homes lie in ruins, including a rescuer's daughter who changed Cali's earthquake protocol

A formal housing ceremony in Cali changed when two girls slipped past security and approached President Abelardo De La Espriella with a personal request: they wanted homes for their mothers.

The appeal came during an Aug. 28 event where authorities planned to hand over four apartments to people who had lost everything in the magnitude-7.4 earthquake that struck Cali and the wider region on Aug. 10. The disaster killed 154 people in Cali and injured more than 1,500, with 148 still hospitalized, according to the latest report from the district mayor's office.

One of the girls described how her home disappeared in a thick cloud of dust. The earthquake completely destroyed 46 buildings and sharply changed parts of the city's urban landscape. What had been planned as a protocol-driven distribution of aid became an emotional scene as families pressed for solutions to homes broken by the disaster.

The four apartments from construction company Marval had initially been assigned to Cristian López, Maryori Basto and Diana Troncoso, a 31-year-old biomedical professional rescued after spending nearly 30 hours buried in the ruins of the Torres del Limonar building. The fourth apartment was intended for Ana María Saavedra Caicedo, 23, who became a local symbol of the tragedy after losing her parents, two triplet sisters and an uncle when the María Elvira Lloreda building collapsed completely. Saavedra was the only survivor and remained in recovery after complex surgeries, including pelvic surgery, so her cousin Daniela Zangarife represented her at the ceremony.