South Florida mobilizes to send aid after powerful earthquake strikes Colombia

South Florida leaders and a Doral-based humanitarian organization are mobilizing to send aid to Colombia after a powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the western part of the country Monday morning, collapsing buildings and causing widespread destruction.

The earthquake struck at 7:34 a.m. local time as officials worked to determine the extent of the damage and what assistance is needed.

"There's a lot of damage, and we are waiting for information as to what the needs are. The first is rescue and recovery," said Weston Commissioner Fabio Andrade, who is Colombian American.

Andrade joined other elected leaders at Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) in Doral to discuss relief efforts for Colombia.

GEM, which has been collecting aid for victims of twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela in June, has launched a new mission to help those affected in Colombia.

"Well, the great thing is we know how to get activated really quickly," Doral Mayor Christi Fraga said. "There's a lot of emergency supplies here already that we could start to proportion off to Colombia."

Francine De La Rosa, a GEM board member who is from Colombia and has family there, described the frantic effort to reach loved ones after the earthquake.

"The calls from today were different," she said. "These were calls of family and friends I was frantically calling."

De La Rosa said her family canceled a trip to Colombia for her father's 80th birthday because of the earthquake.

"But that's not what's important," she said. "What's important is we need to send out people who are already there — our teams are already doing an analysis at ground zero."

GEM will continue collecting monetary donations and supplies for victims of both disasters.