Evaluación de necesidad en salud y nutrición post-terremoto en Colombia (2026)

This report consolidates the rapid needs assessment for health, nutrition, and protection in the department of Chocó, Colombia, three weeks after the 7.4 Mw magnitude earthquake that occurred on August 10, 2026. This assessment aims to identify priority gaps, analyze the functional status of the service network, and guide Save the Children’s operational planning in collaboration with the health cluster, the local public health network, local civil society organizations, ethnic-territorial organizations, community-based organizations, and state authorities in the territory.

This assessment begins with the explicit recognition of a pre-existing context of triple impact that exacerbates and sustains a critical level of humanitarian needs in the department. Chocó is geographically marginalized, with high levels of multidimensional poverty, chronic deficiencies in basic services infrastructure, and a historical overlap of impacts caused by internal armed conflict and climate variability. The current seismic event, coupled with severe recent flooding, has acted as a multiplier of vulnerabilities, collapsing critical health centers, disrupting child nutrition programs, contaminating water sources, and triggering risks to child protection and gender-based violence (GBV). This necessitates a response that integrates actions in health and nutrition, water and sanitation, education, protection, food security, and livelihoods.