Transversal del Carare highway fault
© Heraldo USAThe geological fault has affected 1.9 miles of the Transversal del Carare highway.
For a week now, the town of Vélez in Colombia has been cut off due to a geological fault that damaged a large stretch of a highway in the department of Santander connecting to Boyacá and the Caribbean coast. So far, authorities have no solutions to restore mobility in the area.

The landslide on the Transversal del Carare highway is about 1.9 miles from where the epicenter occurred. This situation has affected over 14,000 people who are part of the Vélez community, primarily engaged in agriculture.

Various videos of the damage caused by this geological fault in the department of Santander are circulating on social media, impacting many users. On TikTok, it has been shared over 177,000 times.

The mayor, Orlando Ariza, has stated that the magnitude of the disaster exceeds the local government's response capacity, and since November 4th, they have failed to ensure the necessary humanitarian aid for the affected families and individuals, according to the portal Seguimiento.CO.
"We haven't been able to reach the area because there's no vehicular access, no electricity, and families are cut off. The ground keeps moving minute by minute, and the Quirata River could get dammed," the mayor said, requesting help from the federal government.
Among the damages are buried homes, people cut off, no electricity, and potential secondary impacts from another landslide due to the unstable ground. Additionally, the mayor of Vélez has pointed out that the alternate routes are in worse condition than the damage recorded on the Transversal del Carare highway caused by the geological fault.
"Today I traveled from my district, which is the Alto Jordán district, supposedly via an alternate route, but it's in worse condition than this. I ask the national government not to abandon us," said Orlando Ariza, according to Noticias del Caracol.