Colombia Earthquake Response Enters Grim Phase as Survival Window Closes.

Colombian rescue teams pushed through a third night searching rubble Wednesday as the death toll reached 265 and officials warned the window for finding survivors alive was narrowing fast.

• 265 people confirmed dead; more than 3,500 injured; nearly 500 officially missing.
• Civilian-run tracking databases put the missing count above 4,200.
• 130 aftershocks recorded since the 7.4-magnitude quake struck Monday.
• More than 9,550 homes destroyed; 140 buildings collapsed entirely.

Why it matters: Aid agencies treat the first 72 hours as the prime window for pulling survivors from rubble, though that can extend if trapped people have water and food. Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder said Wednesday: 'Every minute is vital.'

• Choco, the remote epicenter, lacks cell service; many communities are reachable only by river, leaving the true toll there unknown.
• Giovanni Rizzo of the Norwegian Refugee Council said the quake 'compounds an already severe humanitarian situation' in Choco, a region strained by decades of poverty and armed conflict.

How 20 sources split on this story

Where they split: Official and civilian missing-person counts diverge sharply — authorities report roughly 500 missing while family-run databases list more than 4,200.

What’s next: President de la Espriella declared an economic emergency and pledged a fund to rebuild hospitals, schools and infrastructure, without yet specifying the measures.

• $15 million pledged by the U.S.; Mexico sent 19.5 tons of food and has 255 specialists on standby.
• Seismologist Rodrigo León Loya said another quake of similar magnitude elsewhere in Colombia is a matter of when, not if.
• How many people remain alive beneath the rubble beyond the 72-hour mark?
• Will de la Espriella's economic emergency measures adequately fund a disaster response agency he had campaigned to cut?
• What is the full scale of destruction in Choco, where communications remain severed?