Search efforts continue after 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Colombia

CALI, Colombia (NBC, KYMA) - Rescue efforts across western Colombia carried into a second day on Tuesday as emergency workers dug through collapsed buildings and flattened homes, amid expectations that the death toll from the country's most powerful earthquake in decades could rise.

The 7.4-magnitude earthquake tore through Colombia's coffee growing heartland early Monday, killing at least 169 people.

The quake reduced multi-story buildings to rubble in cities such as Pereira and Cali, and cracked apart one of the towers of a historic cathedral in the city of Manizales.

Emergency teams aided by police, soldiers and volunteers worked through the night with excavators and, at times, their bare hands, hunting for survivors beneath debris.

In Cali, home to about 2.2 million people, at least 85 people were killed. Dozens of buildings were left leaning precariously or destroyed outright, forcing residents into the streets.

Several of the top floors of one of the city's hospitals, some dedicated to pediatric care, collapsed upon themselves, leaving some patients trapped and forcing some 600 others to be tended to on a street strewn with rubble, hospital director Irne Torres Castro told Caracol Television.

President Abelardo De La Espriella, who assumed power just days ago, said 35 people died in Cali alone, while 188 were missing.

He said 1,000 members of the security forces would be deployed to the city by dawn, following reports of looting. Cali, as well as Pereira, implemented curfews on Monday night.