A 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck western Colombia on Monday has killed at least 224 people, with more than 3,700 others still listed as missing and rescue teams struggling to reach the remote area closest to the epicenter.

The quake hit the department of Chocó, centered near the town of San José del Palmar, roughly 150 miles west of Bogotá, at a depth of about 103 kilometers, according to the Colombian Geological Service. It is being described as the strongest earthquake to hit the country so far this century. Beyond the confirmed deaths, more than 1,200 people have been injured, and officials expect the death toll to keep climbing as crews reach communities that remain cut off by damaged roads and landslides in the mountainous terrain around the epicenter.

The shaking was felt well beyond Chocó, rattling buildings in Cali, Pereira, Manizales and the departmental capital of Quibdó, and reaching across the border into parts of Ecuador and Panama. More than 1,500 homes have been damaged or destroyed, along with more than a dozen health centers and schools, complicating both the immediate medical response and efforts to shelter people who have lost their homes.

Colombia's government declared a national emergency in the hours after the quake and has since deployed search and rescue teams to the hardest-hit areas, though the same difficult terrain that makes San José del Palmar remote in ordinary times is now slowing the response. Helicopters have had to be used to reach some communities where roads remain impassable.

International aid groups have begun mobilizing medical supplies and support for the affected region, with the scale of displacement and infrastructure damage expected to keep emergency operations running for weeks. Colombian officials have not yet given a timeline for when search and rescue efforts will shift toward recovery and rebuilding.