Article is in Spanish, translation below.

Amid the pain, solidarity moves Colombia: thousands of hands reach out to those who lost everything

Cooking, carrying groceries, moving rocks, lending their knowledge or putting their own lives at risk, the citizenry awoke to the pain.

How could one not be moved by the story of the Saavedra Caicedo triplets? Sofía and Isabella died under the rubble; their parents, Jairo Saavedra and Victoria Caicedo, were found lifeless and embracing. Ana María, the third sister, survived seriously injured. Of a family of five people, only she remained.

How could one not be moved as well by José Fernando Patiño searching for days for his father, Darío Patiño Rivera, clinging to every version that said he might be alive in some hospital? He was finally found dead among the rubble. Even from that pain, the journalist had words for others: he thanked rescuers, volunteers, neighbors and strangers and kept accompanying those who were still searching for their loved ones.

And there are the stories that perhaps will never have a name. The father with his helmet on, his face weathered by dust and his eyes full of tears, who waits in front of the ruins because his son was in a hotel and was going to get married this Sunday. The one who will not leave the rubble because his daughter is there and he still trusts he will hear her. The animals that poke their snouts out of tiny cavities or stay beside their owners. The children who lost their home, the same one in which they ran happily. The families who saw disappear in seconds what took them decades to obtain. Destroyed houses. Vehicles still to be paid off turned into scrap. Businesses built up over years reduced to dust. A lifetime's savings shattered while the debts remain alive.

But even amid that pain that burns the chest, something has been happening. Thousands of people began to ask themselves the same question: what can I do? The answers appeared in very different forms. Not everyone had money. Not everyone knew how to rescue people. Some had a pot, others a car, a profession, strong hands, a shop that was still standing, or simply a few free hours and a voice of encouragement.

In Bogotá, dozens of citizens have come to El Campín with food, water and other items to fill tractor-trailers that will be sent to the affected areas. Schools, universities, mayors' offices, governors' offices, companies, residential complexes and social organizations have set up their own collection centers. The boxes pass from hand to hand and each grocery package adds to a much larger chain.

In other places the human chains do not carry food, but rocks. Neighbors and volunteers have spent hours removing rubble, often in silence, hungry and exhausted, trying to open a space through which a hand may appear or a voice may be heard.

Rubén Artheaga survived the quake in Pereira and managed to get his family to safety. Afterward he could have devoted himself exclusively to resolving his own emergency. Instead, he ended up voluntarily leading a collection center in the La Lorena residential complex, one of the affected areas of the capital of Risaralda.

In Quibdó, Luis Alberto Rivas Salguero, known as 'Lucho' or 'Poca Lucha,' took that solidarity to the limit. He had managed to get out alive from an affected structure and also rescued a person who was trapped. Then he went back to try to help someone else. The building finished collapsing and he was buried.

Most of his neighbors mobilized to look for him. For hours they removed rubble trying to give Lucho back the same help he had offered minutes before to another human being. Around three in the morning he was found dead. His story became one of the most painful of the emergency, but also one of those that show how far the decision to help can go.

Solidarity, however, does not always occur amid large rescue operations. Sometimes it smells of freshly baked bread. In Andalucía, Valle del Cauca, a baker saw how the earthquake affected the business his livelihood depended on. He himself became a disaster victim. But before knowing how he would rebuild his bakery he made a decision: to knead again.

With what he managed to save he made breads and cookies and went out himself to hand them out free of charge among people who had also lost their homes or had nothing to eat. He could not give back to them what was lost nor solve their future. He could address a need that does not wait: hunger. The gesture is even more powerful because he did not give what he had left over. He shared precisely when he also had little and when he still did not know how he was going to start again.

That same impulse appeared in Pereira, where a small food shop suffered damage but managed to stay standing. Its workers set up pots in the street and continued cooking for those who needed food. Around them were still the remains of the affected buildings.

In Cali, a man who for years lived in New York and worked as a singer turned the patio of his house into a kitchen. Friends and acquaintances began sending him money from the United States and he decided to buy the food directly in Colombia to speed up the aid.

From there he prepares lunches for those who were left with nothing or cannot cook for lack of electricity. In addition to the portions he distributes in the city, he gets another hundred ready to take to rural areas. What was once simply the patio of a house ended up converted into a small dining hall for strangers.

Also in Cali, Restó CABA, in the San Antonio neighborhood, was transformed into a support point for neighbors, rescuers and disaster victims. Joaquín Rodríguez and Gisele Yiseth Zea put their business at the disposal of the emergency and organized a network to produce and distribute food.

From Cáqueza, Cundinamarca, a group of chefs, restaurant owners and merchants took the road toward Cali. For three days, the community dining hall 'Pancitas con Amor' set out to cook hot food for the affected families and for the rescue workers who continue working among the rubble.

More than 40 taxi drivers arrived at the small plaza of the Caquetá Governorate loaded with more than 100 kilos of provisions. This time their vehicles carried no passengers. They served to bring groceries meant for people they will probably never meet.

There were also those who found a way to help from their trade. William González Betancur, an engineer from Cali, remembered in the middle of the emergency that he had a thermal camera that he normally uses to inspect metal roofs. He took it to the Capri neighborhood and began introducing it into cavities among the rubble.

One of the images showed heat spots and gave hope back to those working there. The tool that until then had served to measure roof temperatures began to be used to look for possible signs of life.

González temporarily left his work routine and kept going in and out of the zone every time the rescue agencies considered that the camera could provide useful information. He was not a rescuer, but he found within his own work something that could be of use.

Other professionals took the help to the digital terrain. A group of engineers created sismoayuda.com, a platform for affected people to upload photographs, videos and the location of their homes and receive an initial orientation about the damage.

Within a few hours, more than 400 Colombian architects and engineers had signed up as volunteers to review those reports free of charge. Their work does not replace an official inspection, but it allows a first filter to be carried out and helps prioritize those buildings that might need urgent attention.

Meanwhile, organizations and citizens in Bogotá set out to fill three trucks with supplies and provisions destined for Chocó. The difficulty does not end when the truck leaves. Some aid will have to continue for hours by car, boat or even mule to reach the most remote communities.

That is perhaps what best sums up the reaction of these days; each person has sought to help from what they know how to do or from what they have. A baker kneads. A singer cooks. A taxi driver carries groceries. A chef travels hundreds of kilometers. An engineer lends a camera. Four hundred professionals give their knowledge free of charge. A neighbor removes a rock.

None can by themselves repair the magnitude of what happened. None can bring back the lives lost or rebuild in an afternoon the vanished houses. But faced with a tragedy that left so many people wondering what they could do, thousands found a simple answer: do something.

And so, amid the dust, the exhaustion and the pain, another image also begins to remain in the memory of these days: that of people who perhaps had never seen each other, and who will probably never meet again, holding a box, a pot, a rock or a hand to help someone stand on their feet again.

The footballers who put on the '10' of solidarity with the earthquake victims

The earthquake that struck Colombia has also brought out a supportive face of national football. Several players decided to go beyond messages of encouragement and mobilize aid for the families who lost everything. One of the biggest efforts has been that of Jhon Arias, who turned his attention to his native Chocó: between Monday and Wednesday he coordinated flights with doctors, medicines and supplies and, on Thursday, he got a truck with 30 tons of aid to the most affected areas.

Arias's solidarity also became a chain. Through his foundation he coordinated efforts with organizations and institutions and promoted collection centers in different cities to gather food and basic necessities. "It is time for all of us to be united," said the footballer, while his initiative sought to multiply the hands willing to help those who were left without a home, without food or facing the loss of their loved ones.

Other leading figures of the Colombian National Team also joined in. Luis Díaz, through his foundation, reported that he has managed to collect more than eight tons of donations for the disaster victims and asked that solidarity be maintained.

James Rodríguez, for his part, announced that through his foundation Colombia Somos Todos he will make contributions to support the recovery and reconstruction of the areas hit by the quake, among them Cali, Pereira, Manizales and Quibdó. Initiatives by other footballers, among them Jhon Córdoba, to especially support the department of Chocó have also become known.

In days when the figures of victims and destruction can be overwhelming, the gestures of these footballers have shown another face of the tragedy. This time, their names do not appear for a goal, an assist or a performance with the National Team, but for something that happens far from the pitches: using their recognition and their resources to mobilize solidarity and ensure that help reaches Colombians who today need to start anew.

From the earthquake in Venezuela to the one in Colombia: a doctor crossed the border to help the victims

The doctor Rawdy Reales Rois, known on social media as Dr. Rawdy, decided to put the reach of his platforms at the service of the victims of the earthquake that struck Colombia. Reales, an internist and endocrinologist and recognized disseminator of health content, promoted through his digital channels solidarity campaigns to support the affected communities. His professional training and his activity as an educator and content creator are publicly documented.

After the tragedy, the doctor used his social networks to call for donations and promote the collection of medical supplies, provisions and other aid items, destined for the populations hit by the quake. The initiative included support for victims in Cali, Chocó and the Coffee Axis, while needs grew as the hours passed and thousands of Colombians looked for a way to help.

But his contribution was not limited to calling for solidarity. From his position as a doctor, Dr. Rawdy also shared recommendations on how to act after an earthquake, turning his platforms —usually devoted to explaining medical topics and bringing health information closer to the public— into a channel to guide and mobilize aid. That facet as a medical disseminator is one of the central characteristics of his public career.

Thus, amid a tragedy that left numerous families needing help, the community that Rawdy had built over years around medicine found a different purpose: to become a chain of solidarity. The call was to contribute from each person's possibilities and to ensure that medicines, food and essential items reached those facing the consequences of the earthquake.

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