Türkiye's Foreign Ministry has expressed condolences following an earthquake in Colombia which claimed at least 111 lives.
"We extend our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the earthquake and to the people of Colombia and wish a speedy recovery to those injured," the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
It said the Turkish Embassy in Bogota was in contact with Turkish citizens in the country and closely monitoring their situation.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of life and material damage caused by the earthquake that struck Colombia today," the statement said.
At least 111 people were killed early on Monday when a powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia, causing buildings to collapse and triggering large-scale rescue operations across multiple cities.
At least 87 people were also injured, President Abelardo De La Espriella told reporters.
He said the quake caused damage to 1,575 homes, with 37 completely destroyed, 61 collapsed buildings, 18 damaged health centres, 52 damaged educational centres, 17 damaged community centres, and 18 damaged roads.
National disaster
The Colombian government has declared a national disaster to strengthen the mobilisation and coordination of institutional capacities to address the emergency.
The earthquake occurred at 7.34 am local time (12:34 GMT), with the epicentre located approximately 5 kilometres east of the town of San Jose del Palmar, according to data from the US Geological Survey.
The agency reported that the quake originated at a depth of 107 kilometres.
A magnitude 5.0 aftershock struck at 1318GMT approximately 16 kilometres west of San Jose del Palmar. The municipality, located in the Choco Department, has a population of around 4,800 and sits 1,288 metres above sea level.
Despite the significant strength of the quake, the US Tsunami Warning Centre announced that no tsunami is expected for the US states of California, Oregon, Washington or Alaska and also ruled out one hitting the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Colombian authorities said there is no tsunami threat to the Colombian Pacific coast.
