Powerful 6.3 magnitude quake shakes Bogota, Colombia

A major 6.3-magnitude earthquake lasting several seconds shook the Colombian capital of Bogota early Sunday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The shallow quake struck near the city of Paratebueno in central Colombia, some 170 kilometers east of Bogota, the USGS said.

No casualties were immediately reported in the tremor, also felt in cities including Medellin, Cali and Manizales.

The quake, which the Colombian national geological survey registered at magnitude 6.5, was one of the strongest and longest felt in the capital in recent years.

In Bogota buildings shook, sirens blared and people rushed out into the streets.

Scores of residents gathered in parks and outside buildings in their pajamas, with parents trying to calm frightened children and others looking for pets that had run away.

Many were afraid to go back inside.

Bogota's security department said on X that emergency workers were conducting a sweep of the city to look for damage and provide assistance.

Bogota's mayor, Carlos Fernando Galan, said all disaster agencies had been activated.

Central Colombia is in a zone of high seismic activity. A 6.2 magnitude quake there in 1999, not far from Ansermanuevo, claimed nearly 1,200 lives.

The country is on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin to South America.