Colombia Se Levanta: CSO Earthquake Relief Fundraiser

Colombia Se Levanta

On the morning of August 10, 2026, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia, the country's strongest in decades. More than 250 people have died, thousands are injured, and families across the region are without shelter, clean water, or reliable medical care. Rescue crews spent days unable to reach the towns closest to the epicenter.

For many of us in CSO, these are the cities we are from, or the cities our families are from. Pereira. Cali. Manizales. We cannot be there right now. This is what we can do from Pittsburgh.

WHAT WE'RE DOING

From August 18 through September 30, the Colombian Student Organization is running a campus-wide relief drive. We are not routing this through a large international agency. We went looking for organizations that were already embedded in these three cities before the earthquake and are distributing aid directly today, and we found three. Funds are split evenly among them.

WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES

Pereira — Banco de Alimentos de Pereira
A food bank run by Fundación Cáritas Diocesana de Pereira, distributing emergency food and supplies to earthquake-affected families. Their own facility was damaged in the quake; they are operating out of a temporary site and still taking donations.
Learn more: https://www.caritaspereira.org/banco-de-alimentos/
Give directly: https://portalpagos.davivienda.com/#/comercio/15925/FUNDACION%20CARITAS

Manizales — Fundación Pequeño Corazón
A Manizales foundation that normally provides pediatric cardiology care across the Eje Cafetero — a real clinic with a long track record in the region. Since the earthquake they have partnered with the Alcaldía de Manizales to collect and distribute relief supplies.
Learn more: https://pequenocorazon.org.co/
Give directly: https://checkout.wompi.co/l/VPOS_p8rCPQ

Cali — FUNDVID (Fundación Red Integradora para la Vida)
A Cali foundation with roots in community organizing going back to 2020, formally registered in Colombia since 2024. They are used to receiving support from within Colombia, so an international donation portal is being set up now; until it is live, CSO is collecting and transferring their share on their behalf.
Learn more: https://www.instagram.com/somospueblo10/
fundvid.org

HOW TO GIVE

Online: choose a donation amount below and register. Any amount helps. CSO splits the total evenly among the three organizations and publishes the final numbers.

In person: we will be tabling on campus during the drive. Dates are not locked in yet, follow @cmu_cso on Instagram and we will post each date as it is confirmed.

Give direct: if you would rather send money straight to Pereira or Manizales, use the donation links above. Let us know at colcmu@andrew.cmu.edu so we can count it toward the campus total.

Spread the word: share this page with your hall, your club, your lab group. Reach matters as much as the amount.

QUESTIONS

Email colcmu@andrew.cmu.edu or reach out to Mateo Ruiz-Leal, Co-President. We would be glad to hear from any student group that wants to co-sponsor

Colombia nos necesita. Todos somos Colombia.

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