Colombia earthquake: the help your family can claim NOW — and how to get it for free

The news that matters most, first: there is now concrete help your affected family can claim — rent subsidies, relief on utility bills — and the paperwork is FREE. Below is the list, with the rules so nobody charges them along the way. Then, the week's report: what the official records say, rumour-free.

The official UNGRD toll, as of 15 August (6:30pm): 289 people dead, 3,937 injured, 143 missing and 353 rescued (Publimetro). And the agency's director said it honestly: the chances of finding survivors are running out (El Tiempo). For many families, this is the week mourning begins — and rebuilding too.

What your family can already claim (and how, without paying anyone)

This is the most practical thing you can do from London today: pass this list to your family. The activated schemes include rent subsidies for families who lost their homes, relief on utility bills and supply assistance — and there's an official guide on where and how to apply (Infobae).

Three rules that save your family grief: the paperwork is free (anyone charging to "process" the subsidy is a scammer — you apply directly at the town hall or UNGRD points); the victims' register is the key to all the help, so they should sign up even if the damage looks minor; and keep photos and papers of the damage before any big clean-up — the technical assessment will ask for them. While the subsidy arrives, your remittance covers the rent — paperwork takes longer than hunger.

Why did the figures go down? Because they're real now

If you saw the missing count drop from nearly 380 to 143 and it felt odd: those people didn't turn up alive — duplicates were removed. The early reports were mostly verbal, mid-emergency, and the same person could be counted two or three times by different sources. Cross-checking name by name against prosecutors' and forensic records cleaned the count. It's good statistical news, not human news — and it's the opposite of a cover-up: it's the State auditing its own numbers in public.

The big money is moving: the Miracle Fund and international aid

The Government declared an economic emergency and created the Miracle Fund (Fondo Milagro), the single pot that will concentrate national and international contributions for reconstruction — with the explicit promise that "every peso disbursed will be out in the open" (Infobae). That transparency promise deserves to be held to — and we will follow it.

International aid has moved from announcements to money on the table: the United States raised its humanitarian assistance to $26.5 million (El Tiempo), the International Federation of the Red Cross launched a 25 million Swiss franc appeal to scale up the Colombian Red Cross response (IFRC), and Sweden and China added contributions. The need remains huge: in Buenaventura the hospital network is overwhelmed.

And from London — what changes?

Little and a lot: the verified channels are still the ones from the day-one guide — and the UK's DEC still hasn't launched a Colombia appeal (we checked today; if it does, we'll report it here). The help that matters most now is the steady kind: how to sustain it without burning out, in the series finale. And if your parish, your team or your business organises something in London, tell us and we'll announce it once verified.

One week on, the photo above is the one that counts: dozens of helmets working together. That's what rebuilding looks like — and the diaspora is part of that crew. Fuerza, parceros.