ActionAid’s Isabella Cipirska, who has been deployed to Colombia to support the relief efforts, says it’s vital that rural communities get the support they need and aren’t left behind in the response to the earthquake.
“One of the communities ActionAid has travelled to over the last few days is a very rural remote community called San Isidro. The journey there from Buenaventura centre takes between three and four hours. There’s only one road and for most of the way it’s just a dirt track through really thick rainforest, so it’s quite a difficult challenging journey, and it also means passing through areas controlled by armed groups.”
“We went there to deliver supplies, including hygiene kits which contain things like shampoo and soap, as well as hold psychosocial support sessions. And people told us that this was the first time that the community had received external support since the earthquake hit, and that was on Friday so that’s coming onto two weeks later. The community has been quite badly impacted – the school building has been damaged, so the children currently have nowhere to go to school. Some houses have been completely destroyed.”
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Working with local partners for greater impact
ActionAid Colombia’s acting director Egido Sanz highlights the importance of working with local partners to support hard-to-reach communities. “In rural areas we still have major challenges, because, due to access difficulties, there are still places we haven’t reached,” she said.
“From the very first moment we responded by prioritising work with our local partners, because we were already working in rural areas and in areas with more vulnerable populations, through local partners, and we place great value on this work and on being able to respond to their demands, because they are familiar with the situations happening in the area. They know the responses we need to provide, and, as far as we are able, we want to channel our support through them and the local authorities.”
“We have begun interventions with our partner Barco Hospital in the health sector, prioritising the Río San Juan area, which is only accessible by water, and they have a hospital boat to provide this service.”
Medical staff the Barco Hospital — one of ActionAid’s local partner organisations — attend to those who have been affected by the 2026 Colombia earthquake.
“We are responding together with the Buenaventura Mayor’s Office, providing hygiene kits to people who are in shelters, people who lost their homes and are sheltered there, and we are organising, with other local partners, emergency responses in hygiene, water and food support, to provide food in shelters where people are sheltered,” she said.
Earthquake magnifying existing challenges
“It’s been really sad to hear of people who spent years and years building their homes, adding to it bit by bit over the years, only for it now to be destroyed,” says Cipirska. “The psychological impact of that is very overwhelming, to now face the thought of having to start all over again from scratch.”
“People are telling us that the main things they need right now are food, water, somewhere to stay and support and materials to rebuild their homes. But the problems people are facing are deeper than the ones caused by this disaster. Communities in Buenaventura, which are mostly made up of Afro-Colombian and also Indigenous people, have for decades faced poverty, conflict and underinvestment.”
“In many of the communities ActionAid has been working in over the last two weeks, people were already experiencing food insecurity and many have access to water for only a few hours per day. And now on top of the huge loss people have experienced, they are still having to go without something as basic as reliable access to clean water.”
Homes in central Buenaventura were destroyed by the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that hit western Colombia 10 August 2026.
A focus on mental health
As ActionAid continues to work with communities, it’s evident that many people, especially children, are deeply traumatised by what has happened. They’re not able to sleep, their mental health is suffering, and children keep asking their parents about what if there’s another earthquake and their house falls down. This is in addition to the fact that these communities have already experienced a lot of violence and conflict between armed groups in the area.
“So at ActionAid we’ve been holding psychosocial support sessions,” says Cipirska. “We go into a community alongside our local partner organisations, and create a kind of safe space for people to talk about what has happened and try and process their experiences. And at the same time as these sessions, we also arrange a community kitchen, where people cook and then all sit and eat, and it’s a way of bringing the community together for something positive.”
“Because people inside the communities have been responding to this earthquake from the very first moment, they have not stopped over the last two weeks and they are exhausted and often quite traumatised themselves, so it’s also an opportunity to talk about self-care and for community leaders who are doing so much feel listened to and supported.”
Support from Australians still needed
“There are places we haven’t reached,” says Sanz. “And there are people who are… population that is sleeping, well, in the streets or in conditions that don’t meet even the basic minimum requirements.”
“We are making appeals to see if we can secure more funds to keep responding in other priority sectors. Water, food, perhaps starting with some items for warmth, such as sleeping mats and blankets, some basic kitchen items.”
ActionAid’s existing presence in Colombia means we can reach communities quickly with urgent relief, such as emergency shelter, clean water, food, medical care, sanitation, protection and cash support. Donate to the Colombia Earthquake Emergency Appeal to help us scale up the emergency response and reach more people in need.