Colombia declares three days mourning for victims

Colombia yesterday declared three days of mourning for victims of an earthquake that demolished buildings in the west of the country, killing more than 200 people. The magnitude 7.4 quake on Monday was the strongest to hit Colombia in a century. The government said flags would be lowered to half-staff on official buildings, as well as at Colombian embassies around the world, “in honor of all the dead.” A man sits near debris at the Torres de Limonar building in the aftermath of an earthquake in Cali, Colombia, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters Frantic attempts to find survivors continued, as authorities revised the death toll down to 216 after local officials in Cali corrected earlier figures. In Pereira and in Cali, emergency crews used cranes, dogs and heavy machinery to search ruined buildings