Colombia: In Chocó, long affected by conflict, schools are key to quake recovery
At 7:36 a.m., teacher Rosalba* and her seven students, aged seven to ten, held each other and cried outside the school as the rumble of the earthquake that shook western Colombia in early August finally began to subside.
“We ran to the patio, looking for the safest place we could find, watching that the electric lines wouldn't fall on us – that was the biggest risk here,” Rosalba recalls. Next to them the remains of the school's kitchen lay scattered across the ground.
The events of that morning have left their mark on San José del Palmar, a municipality of nearly 1,000 km² in the humid Pacific coast region of Chocó. Two weeks on, debris still litters the landscape and classrooms remain empty – a visible sign of hardship in a place already strained by decades-long conflict, and where infrastructure and institutional presence remain limited.
In the days since the earthquake, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been on the ground, working alongside the Colombian Red Cross – which has led the Movement's response to the earthquake in the country – and residents to assess the damage and understand what support is most urgently needed.
Day by day the community is trying to resume its routine: clearing hazardous debris, repairing homes and rebuilding a sense of normalcy after the shock of the quake. Schools, however, are proving harder to reopen and most remain unable to receive students.
At another school, about 30 minutes away by a narrow dirt road, Principal Consuelo walks the empty halls, describing how evacuation drills originally planned for an emergency had helped prepare her students for the moment the quake struck, too. When the ground shook, they filed out calmly without incident.
In these communities, the school is not only a place of learning. It is an informal daycare, a community centre and one of the few places that keeps children and young people away from the risks that can come with being out of school in an area where several armed groups are present.
"The school is a safe space for the students because there we are guiding them and keeping them company. But now they are all worried, because there's still no hope of resuming activities," Consuelo says, describing how hard it is for the community to have to wait for outside assessment before students can resume their classes. Without a formal technical evaluation, no parent will risk sending their children back to a building that might collapse.
Access to rural Chocó is constrained, and in some hard-to-reach communities, residents had begun repairing damaged roads and water systems themselves while awaiting help from the outside. “We don't know anything at all – you are the first ones to come here. Nobody has come to see us, or even called,” says Wilson, the president of the local community action group – the Junta de Acción Comunal (JAC) – in a rural village visited by the ICRC.
Still, local institutions can quickly be overwhelmed by an emergency of this scale. Here it struck at the heart of communal life: “There are 55 children who study here and the school was badly damaged. Luckily, it wasn't yet time for class or there might have been injuries,” Wilson says. “The earthquake was felt very strongly – as you could see, it affected a big part [of our village]: the school, the health centre, even a community building we were working on.”
The ICRC has worked in rural Chocó for years, supporting communities affected by the country's armed conflict – responding to their most urgent needs and staying close to their everyday reality. That proximity is what has allowed ICRC teams to respond quickly to the earthquake, assessing health needs alongside residents and inspecting school infrastructure in communities already living through the impact of conflict in the region.
Across San José del Palmar's rural area, ICRC teams have identified at least seven rural schools still unable to resume classes two weeks on. For Consuelo and the families who depend on her, that presence provides a sense that they are not facing the consequences of the earthquake alone, and that concrete answers, not just further uncertainty, are on the way.
* Names have been changed to protect the identities of those interviewed due to the security situation in the area.
For more information please contact:
Lorena Hoyos, ICRC Colombia, +57 310 221 8133, email: bhoyosgomez@icrc.org
Germán Pérez, ICRC Americas, +57 313 4880533, email: gperezrodriguez@icrc.org
SHOTLIST
Length: 10:42
Location: San José del Palmar, Chocó, Colombia
Date Of Filming: August 2026
Copyright: ICRC access all
On Screen Credit: ICRC written or logo
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A series of shots showing earthquake damage to schools in rural communities in Chocó, humanitarian teams working in the area, and road conditions affecting access to the communities.
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Soundbite:
María Elena Rentería – ICRC Officer
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We are in the rural communities of San José del Palmar, communities where we have been present for several years.
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The International Committee of the Red Cross has deployed several teams to areas that have been affected
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traditionally by armed conflict and are now also dealing with the consequences of the 10 August earthquake.
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Few organizations reach this territory to provide humanitarian assistance. Through dialogue with the affected communities,
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we have identified damage to homes, health centres, access roads and water supply systems.
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We have also identified a significant impact on the population’s mental health.
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One of the most concerning consequences has been the damage to educational facilities,
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including roofs and walls.
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Children have not returned to school because the community is afraid.
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They are waiting for a technical assessment that will allow them to return to their classrooms safely.
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When a school is affected, the entire community is affected.
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That is why it is important for institutions
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and the community as a whole to ensure continued access to education for children and young people in these affected communities.
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Shots of an ICRC vehicle travelling along roads to reach the affected communities.
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Soundbite:
Wilson, President of the local community action group – the Junta de Acción Comunal (JAC)
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It was not very strong—I mean, it was very strong.
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The earthquake was felt very strongly.
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You have seen how it affected a large part of the community, including the school and the health centre.
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A community building that we are working on also sustained significant damage.
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Fifty-five children study here. We have 35 children
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from preschool through fifth grade and 20 from sixth through ninth grade.
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The school was also affected.
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Thankfully, classes had not started yet. Otherwise,
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a student could have been injured.
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As an alternative, we are considering adapting another space
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so that we can complete the rest of the school year while we wait to see what will be done about the school.
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We know absolutely nothing.
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As I mentioned before, you are the first people to visit us here.
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No one has come to inspect the damage, and no one has called us.
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This affects us tremendously.
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This is a very difficult area, and it is not the same to have children focused on their studies
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and exercising their right to education as it is to have them scattered around without knowing what they may be thinking or doing.
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Series of shots of ICRC officers in the community, assessing damage to homes that collapsed or were left completely uninhabitable.
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Soundbite: Emily Praché – ICRC Delegate
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Mestizo, Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities live in this area.
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It is located in a very mountainous region and is difficult to access.
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The roads run along the edges of the mountains, which leaves them exposed to many risks.
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These situations cause significant hardship for communities because they cannot access
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basic services and become disconnected from the outside world. They cannot communicate with their families
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or with the rest of the world to explain what is happening because there is no connectivity.
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This has a significant impact on their mental health.
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They cannot attend medical appointments, and people in critical health conditions
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may also be unable to reach the nearest health facility.
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The impact is multidimensional and affects all the communities living here,
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which already face extremely difficult conditions.
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Shots of homes in rural communities, showing structural damage, large cracks inside a house and debris from collapsed sections of the buildings.
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Exterior and interior shots of a school damaged by the earthquake. The footage shows debris inside a classroom, a collapsed roof, and ICRC and Colombian Red Cross personnel assessing the damage and the community’s needs.
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Soundbite:
Consuelo – School Principal
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The school is a safe place for students because we guide and support them,
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especially since many of them are sometimes alone at home.
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Students from different communities and rural school sites come to the Normal School,
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as well as students from other parts of the municipality, to train as future teachers.
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Resuming classes depends on a professional assessment of the condition of the school.
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It also depends on receiving support to repair the damage and ensuring that the school is in a safe condition,
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because some of the damage could prevent students from returning to their classrooms.
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Everyone is worried because there is still no clear prospect of receiving the support needed to resume that process.
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A series of shots showing a statue of the Virgin Mary that was broken in two by the earthquake, cracks and damage inside a school, and ICRC and Colombian Red Cross personnel speaking with community members.
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Soundbite:
Rosalba, teacher from a rural school.
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It was 7:30.
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At 7:34, the earthquake took us by surprise.
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It became stronger, so we stayed in the courtyard, which was the safest place we could find.
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We watched carefully to make sure the power lines did not fall on us, because that was the greatest danger at the time.
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After the earthquake, we realized that the kitchen had been completely destroyed.
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It was a very difficult moment. The children were very frightened, and we held one another until it was over. Then we stayed together for a while.
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We did not go back into the classroom. We began to organize.
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Once we saw that it was safe, connectivity was completely disrupted. The internet and phone signal went down, and we were left without communication.
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We still do not have internet at the school because the antennas were damaged.
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The internet antennas were damaged.
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Shots of Rosalba walking through the school, showing damage to the roof and bathrooms; children inside a classroom; a landslide; and debris in the bathrooms.
Ends
