Forensic work is advancing after the August 10 earthquake. In Official Communiqué 03, Colombia’s National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences says it had received 180 bodies from Chocó, Caldas, Risaralda and Valle del Cauca by 6:50 p.m. Colombia time on August 11. At that cutoff, 93 victims had been fully identified.
Fifteen more bodies received and fifty more identifications
The previous record, with a 1:30 p.m. cutoff, counted 165 bodies received and 43 victims identified. Five hours and twenty minutes later, the figures reached 180 and 93: increases of 15 bodies received and 50 identifications between the two records.
The communiqué has a 6:50 p.m. cutoff and the institute’s official account published it at 7:55 p.m. The record therefore describes conditions established at 6:50 p.m., independently of its publication time.
A breakdown across four departments
Of the 93 identified victims, 69 are recorded in Risaralda: 68 in Pereira and one in Belén de Umbría. Chocó accounts for 11 identifications, all in Quibdó.
Valle del Cauca accounts for nine — four in Buenaventura, two in Buga and three in Cali — while Caldas accounts for four, recorded in Manizales. This breakdown describes the forensic units listed in the communiqué, not a final distribution of all earthquake victims.
A forensic record separate from other tolls
The 180 bodies received do not constitute a new final national death toll. The figure covers four departments and does not establish that every earthquake victim has already been transferred to the forensic institute.
It remains separate from the earlier presidential national toll of 181 deaths, 2,595 injured and 195 missing, and from the Reuters aggregate of 254 deaths based on local reports. Their scopes, methods and cutoff times differ; the figures must neither be added together nor substituted for one another. The 87 unidentified bodies in the forensic record do not automatically correspond to the 195 people reported missing.
Handover to families requires coordination
The forensic institute says the handover of bodies will be coordinated with the Fiscalía General de la Nación, the relevant municipal authorities and the families. The communiqué does not state how many handovers had taken place by 6:50 p.m.
The institute says identification work is continuing with technical rigour, respect for human dignity and support for families. This step establishes identities before funeral and administrative procedures without exposing more personal information than necessary.
What the next records need to clarify
Future releases will need to state how the number of bodies received, completed identifications and their territorial distribution evolve, while retaining a precise cutoff time. They should also clarify progress in coordination with families.
This communiqué provides no new figures for injured or missing people and no update on water, electricity, telecommunications, roads or airports. It therefore cannot establish their current status.