Buildings and hospitals: what seismic standards can save

Three construction realities

Recent engineered buildings can dissipate some energy through controlled deformation. Older buildings and unreinforced masonry are more vulnerable. Informal construction may combine missing soil studies, uneven materials and insufficient reinforcement.

A standard designed to save lives

Modern rules, including Law 400 and the NSR-10 regulation, do not promise an undamaged building. Their first goal is to prevent sudden collapse and allow evacuation. Non-structural damage does not automatically mean total structural failure.

The vital challenge for hospitals

A hospital should remain operational when casualties arrive whenever possible. Evacuations and inspections do not prove wrongdoing, but they require scrutiny of age, plans, strengthening, equipment and observed damage.

Twenty-four health facilities in a WHO assessment

UN News, published at 10:49:01 a.m., reports that WHO counted 24 damaged health facilities across six departments, with the most severe impact in Valle del Cauca, particularly Cali. Part of a tower housing cardiology and pediatric services failed at one unnamed hospital; another unnamed clinic was fully evacuated.

Damage to water systems is also disrupting some health facilities. PAHO deployed teams to Cali and Chocó to support assessment and coordination, while the Health Ministry and the Instituto Nacional de Salud activated their operations centers.

The 24 facilities reflect one assessment across six departments. They do not replace the 85 affected health centers later announced in the presidential national toll and must not be added to that figure.

More than 100 engineers inspect at least 300 structures in Manizales

According to Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas, cited by Univision in a 1:16 p.m. publication, a team of more than 100 engineers is inspecting at least 300 damaged homes, businesses and buildings in the historic center.

The inspections are intended to identify buildings requiring immediate evacuation. They do not mean all 300 structures have already been declared uninhabitable or evacuated.

Classes suspended while inspections continue

On August 10 at 10:25 p.m., the Mayor’s Office of Cali preventively suspended in-person academic activities and services in the city’s public educational institutions for August 11 and 12.

El Tiempo, in an article published August 11 at 3:17:36 p.m., also reports suspensions in Pereira, Ibagué, Manizales and Caldas, plus selected postponements at schools in Tabio, San Francisco, Anapoima and Subachoque during inspections. That time is the news article’s publication time, not the time of the local decisions. Reopening dates remain subject to assessments.