Colombian insurers had recorded an estimated $3.7 trillion COP in claims value tied to the August 10, 2026, earthquake as of September 7, according to the fourth weekly damage report published by Fasecolda, formally the Federación de Aseguradores Colombianos (Federation of Colombian Insurers), the trade group representing the country’s insurance companies. The figure is up $1 trillion COP from the previous week’s report and comes one month after a magnitude-7.4 earthquake struck near San José del Palmar, in the Chocó department, according to Semana. As of September 7, Colombia’s Unidad Nacional para la Gestión del Riesgo de Desastres (National Disaster Risk Management Unit, or UNGRD) had counted 331 deaths, 111 people missing and 4,505 injured, with nearly 467,000 people affected across 498 municipalities, Semana reported.

The estimated claims value has grown roughly tenfold since insurers’ first weekly report on August 14, when it stood at $370 billion COP. It rose to $1.2 trillion COP by August 21, $2.67 trillion COP by August 28 and $3.7 trillion COP in the report released September 8, covering the period through September 7.

Estimated earthquake insurance claims value in Colombia grew from $370 billion COP to $3.7 trillion COP across four weekly Fasecolda reports. (Chart: Finance Colombia, based on Fasecolda data)

Insurers had received 68,270 claims as of the September 7 cutoff, up from 66,370 in the prior report, a 3% increase in eight days. That volume is up 550% from the 10,465 claims logged in insurers’ first balance during the initial emergency response, before the weekly reporting series began. Claims have been filed in 451 municipalities across 31 departments, according to Fasecolda.

The number of earthquake-related insurance claims filed in Colombia rose from 13,855 to 68,270 across four weekly Fasecolda reports. (Chart: Finance Colombia, based on Fasecolda data)

Insurers have paid out $95.08 billion COP in indemnities to affected policyholders, up 121% from the prior weekly report, funds Fasecolda said are reaching homeowners, businesses and residential co-ownership associations directly. The disbursed total remains a small fraction of the $3.7 trillion COP insurers expect to eventually pay, reflecting how early the claims process remains a month into a filing window that runs two years from the date of the earthquake.

Gustavo Morales, Fasecolda’s chief executive, framed the figures as a reflection of both the scale of the damage and the industry’s remaining workload.

“A month after the earthquake, our priority continues to be standing by the people, families, businesses and co-ownership associations affected.”

— Gustavo Morales, chief executive, Fasecolda

The five hardest-hit departments by claims volume are Valle del Cauca, with 28,201 claims, $46.22 billion COP paid out and an estimated $1.35 trillion COP in total claims value; Risaralda, with 14,755 claims, $26.34 billion COP paid and an estimated $1.30 trillion COP in claims value; Quindío, with 8,158 claims, $12.45 billion COP paid and an estimated $256 billion COP in claims value; Caldas, with 3,998 claims, $4.68 billion COP paid and an estimated $220 billion COP in claims value; and Antioquia, with 5,847 claims, $660 million COP paid and an estimated $106 billion COP in claims value.

Valle del Cauca and Risaralda account for the largest share of estimated earthquake insurance claims value by department. (Chart: Finance Colombia, based on Fasecolda data)

By line of business, earthquake coverage — which Fasecolda groups together with homeowners’ and fire policies — accounts for the large majority of reserved claims value nationally: 63,786 claims and a $3.34 trillion COP reserve. Business-interruption coverage, known in Colombia as lucro cesante, accounts for just five claims but a $33.9 billion COP reserve, reflecting the size of the commercial policies involved. Automobile coverage accounts for 1,219 claims and a $22.9 billion COP reserve, and occupational-risk coverage, which insures workplace injury and death, accounts for 1,113 claims and a $16.6 billion COP reserve.

Earthquake, home and fire coverage account for the large majority of Colombia’s national earthquake-related insurance reserve. (Chart: Finance Colombia, based on Fasecolda data)

Fasecolda has published a claims guide on fasecolda.com intended to walk affected policyholders through what to do if they suffered damage, how to report a claim, which coverage may apply and the steps to file with their insurer. The federation reiterated that affected policyholders have up to two years from the date of the earthquake to file a claim, and can do so directly with their insurance company or through their broker without an intermediary.

The insurance-claims tally follows emergency measures Colombia’s financial regulator, the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia (Financial Superintendency of Colombia, superfinanciera.gov.co), proposed within days of the earthquake to ease the burden on affected borrowers and claimants, including extended loan terms, waived default fees and fast-track insurance payment channels, as Finance Colombia reported in the days after the disaster.

Headline photo by Rupert Stebbings

Colombia’s Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia (Financial Superintendency of Colombia, or SFC) has published for public comment a draft external circular that would give banks, insurers and other supervised financial institutions temporary instructions to assist consumers affected by the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck the country on August 10, 2026. The comment period, open since August 12, closes at 11:59 p.m. on August 14, 2026, giving industry and the public a two-business-day window to respond, according to the draft text and the SFC’s own consultation record.

The earthquake, with an epicenter in the municipality of San José del Palmar in Chocó department and a depth of 96 kilometers, triggered 991 additional seismic events within a 900-kilometer radius, according to figures cited in the SFC’s draft circular, including 115 in the magnitude 5.0-to-5.9 range, 18 between magnitude 6.0 and 6.9, and three exceeding magnitude 7.0. The national government declared a state of national disaster the following day, August 11, through Decree 1171, covering Antioquia, Caldas, Cauca, Chocó, Quindío, Cundinamarca, Risaralda, Huila, Valle del Cauca, Tolima, Putumayo, Norte de Santander and other affected territories for an initial 12 months, renewable for an equal term, as Finance Colombia reported at the time.

Death toll still climbing

As of the evening of August 12, Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella cited a balance from the Unidad Nacional para la Gestión del Riesgo de Desastres (National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, or UNGRD) showing a toll that had continued to climb since the quake struck two days earlier.

“We have 25,872 affected families, 53,816 people, sadly 265 dead, 3,494 injured, and the number of missing has risen alarmingly to 496.”— Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella, citing the UNGRD balance, August 12, 2026

The same balance reported 11,347 homes destroyed and 53,526 damaged, 140 buildings collapsed, and 1,819 schools and 631 community centers affected. Earlier counts from the same day had put the toll lower, underscoring that the figures remained provisional; international search-and-rescue teams, coordinated by UNGRD, were still arriving as of August 13 to assist Colombian personnel, and officials have cautioned the toll is likely to keep rising.

Colombia’s disaster management law, Ley 1523 de 2012, activates a special legal regime once a national disaster is declared, including articles 86 and 87, which allow affected debtors to seek refinancing of existing obligations. The SFC’s draft circular says it is exercising its instruction authority under the Estatuto Orgánico del Sistema Financiero (Organic Statute of the Financial System) and Decree 2555 of 2010 to translate that legal framework into binding instructions for the institutions it supervises.

Refinancing terms for affected borrowers

Under the draft measures, lending institutions would be required to adopt refinancing programs for borrowers affected by the disaster, subject to conditions drawn directly from the 2012 law: refinancing would apply only to obligations contracted before August 10, 2026, with payments due on or after that date; the new loan term could not exceed double the remaining term or 20 years, whichever is shorter; refinanced terms could not be more burdensome than the original ones; and borrowers would have to apply while the disaster declaration remains in force. No interest or late fees would accrue between the disaster declaration and the completion of the renegotiation, a period the draft caps at 90 days. Lenders could also offer additional voluntary relief, such as grace periods or special interest rates, provided the terms are no more burdensome for the consumer and the measures are not applied as a blanket restructuring practice rather than case-by-case review.

Credits refinanced under the program would keep the risk rating they carried before the disaster was declared, with credit-bureau reporting frozen for up to 12 months after the refinancing is completed, and the draft specifies the refinancing would not count as a modification or restructuring for prudential reporting purposes. Lenders would also be permitted to use alternative data sources to assess a borrower’s future repayment capacity, accounting for the likely economic recovery of the borrower’s sector.

Insurers, fund managers and severance withdrawals

Insurance companies would be required to establish expedited claims and payment channels for policyholders in affected areas, prioritize payment of healthcare providers’ invoices tied to the disaster, and adopt policies to facilitate premium payments, including for policies unrelated to credit operations. Trust companies and brokerage firms would be asked to evaluate mechanisms to speed redemptions from open-end investment funds without a minimum holding period, and to consider waiving early-redemption penalties for funds that carry one, for consumers affected by the disaster. Severance-fund administrators would be instructed to expedite housing-related severance withdrawals for affected members, within the bounds of Colombia’s existing severance-withdrawal rules.

The draft also directs supervised entities more broadly to maintain continuity of financial services where security conditions allow, disclose any changes to branch hours or closures, strengthen digital channels, and activate business-continuity plans in affected zones; to clearly publicize the terms of any relief programs; and to set up priority service channels for complaints and claims tied to the disaster. The SFC said it would establish its own priority contact channel to help affected consumers navigate complaints against supervised entities.

In its internal cost-benefit review, the SFC’s research and analysis unit found no reason to delay the proposal, concluding that reduced default risk, faster insurance payouts and improved liquidity access for affected consumers would outweigh the compliance costs institutions face in adapting systems, training staff and expanding service channels. The regulator said the draft requires no new budget appropriations and can be implemented with existing staff and technology. It also said a competition-impact questionnaire it completed under Colombia’s competition-advocacy rules returned entirely negative responses, meaning no referral to the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (Superintendency of Industry and Commerce) was required.

A two-day window, and a toll still being counted

The SFC set the unusually short two-business-day comment window under an exception in Colombian regulatory procedure that allows shortened public consultation periods when a rule responds to urgent, unforeseeable circumstances. The regulator said the scale of the disaster and the need for a prompt, uniform response from the financial sector justified the shortened timeline. Comments can be submitted using a standard form referencing filing number 2026182440, by email to normativa@superfinanciera.gov.co or in writing to the SFC’s deputy director of regulation. If adopted, the circular would take effect upon publication and would remain in force for as long as the national disaster declaration stands, though any relief already granted to consumers would continue on its own terms after the circular expires.

Colombia has also drawn $1.3 billion USD in international pledges since the earthquake struck. The comment window closes before search-and-rescue operations are expected to conclude, and the casualty figures the SFC cites as justification for the rule are themselves preliminary and likely to keep changing.

Above photo – Damage in Pereira, Colombia (Photo: Vance Campbell)