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Barcelona sends 100,000 euros to Colombia and offers firefighters after the earthquake
Barcelona is mobilising urgent aid for Colombia following the earthquake that struck the country last Monday. The City Council will allocate 100,000 euros to address the most immediate needs and has also offered specialists from Bombers de Barcelona to assist with the emergency.
The financial contribution will be channelled through the cooperation agreement that Barcelona has maintained with Santiago de Cali since 2025. This mechanism will make it possible to use the resources within programmes already established on the ground and speed up the response in the affected areas.
Bombers de Barcelona has also made personnel specialised in assessing collapsed buildings and structures and in emergency management available. Their possible deployment will now depend on the national and international mechanisms responsible for coordinating the dispatch of rescue teams.
The emergency has a particularly close impact in a city where more than 47,000 people born in Colombia live. Municipal representatives have met with Colombian associations in Barcelona to convey their support and explain the different avenues of cooperation activated after the earthquake.
The mayor, Jaume Collboni, has also contacted the mayor of Cali, Alejandro Eder, to express Barcelona’s solidarity. The two cities have maintained cooperative relations for more than a decade, initially focused on cultural and social projects and later extended to other areas.
Between 2024 and 2026, Barcelona had already allocated more than 554,000 euros to five projects carried out in Colombia, mainly in Cali, Cauca, Buenaventura and Bogotá. The initiatives are linked to women’s rights, peacebuilding, care and strengthening community leadership.
The extraordinary aid arrives while rescue work and care for people affected by the earthquake continue. For Barcelona, the response now combines the provision of financial resources with the possibility of contributing technical personnel, while supporting one of the Latin American communities with the strongest presence in the city.