More than 400 people had to flee their homes in Citadel Sevilla, Medellin – the home city of infamous cocaine drud lord Pablo Escobar.

People at the scene were "terrified" by the sizeable 6.0 magnitude quake, which is believed to have lasted around 30 seconds and was followed by an intense aftershock.

The local authority has initiated its Disaster Risk Management plan amid fears of landslides taking place in the rural region, which has been battered by heavy rains in recent days.

The quake, which took place aroun 8pm local time, was also felt in Bogota – 400km away.

Mayler Parra, who was near the epicentre in Mutatá, said: "The trucks on the roads were shaking, alarms of cars rang out, all the people in hotels took to the streets."

Express.co.uk spoke to two tourists currently staying in nearby Sabaneta.

Tegan and Daniel, from New Zealand, said: "It was pretty scary! We are staying on the sixth floor in an apartment block and we shook for about a minute. It was a bit daunting not knowing what was going to happen. I guess a lot of people would have felt the same, the city is full of apartments!"

Other locals reported a 13 storey hotel building shaking ominously during the tremor.</s>BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A shallow, 5.9 magnitude earthquake rattled residents of Colombia's second-largest city of Medellin on Tuesday night in the country's biggest tremor in over a year.

Colombia's natural disaster office said there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck shortly before 9 p.m. local time near the western town of Mutata. The tremor had a depth of 10 miles (4 kilometers) and was felt as far away as the capital, Bogota.

While the quake startled people relaxing at home it barely registered among soccer fans attending a match in Medellin between Atletico Nacional and Bolivar from Bolivia.

Colombia is a seismically active country with a large potential for damage owing to its mountainous terrain and location along the Pacific Ocean ring of fire.</s>An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 struck northern Colombia on Tuesday night, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake struck about 83 miles (133 kilometers) north-northwest of Medellin.

The USGS said the temblor was about 24 miles (39 kilometers) from Mutata, a town of about 4,800 people

Developing story - more to come</s>The 4.0 magnitude earthquake that rattled many people from their Saturday morning sleep isn’t an unusual phenomenon in the South Okanagan, says an earthquake seismologist with Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN).

Alison Bird, a veteran earthquake seismologist with NRCAN, says the earthquake was centred east of Oliver and was felt from Lake Country south and east as far as Bridesville.

A 4.0 magnitude earthquake “would not be expected” to cause any significant damage or personal injury and there have been no reports of damage, said Bird.

The depth of the earthquake was reported to be about one kilometre, “which is a very shallow seismic event for this region,” said Bird.

NRCAN has revised its location to 49.21 N, 119.24 W, which is just north of Mount Baldy.

An earthquake ranging from 4.0 to 4.9 is classed as “light” and would be felt by most people and the phone in her office was ringing regularly for about two hours after the earthquake was felt Saturday morning, she said.

A 4.0 magnitude earthquake would cause noticeable shaking of indoor objects and a rattling noise, but generally causes no damage or only minimal damage, she said.

It is not unusual for earthquakes of this magnitude to be felt in the South Okanagan, she said.

“We’ve seen earthquakes in this region at around this level once every few years,” she said. “It’s quite common to have an earthquake in this region once every few years.”

From her many years of experience, there would seldom be any personal injuries or property damage caused by an earthquake under 5.0 magnitude, she said.

“Once you hit 5.0 magnitude, you would probably start to see some property damage and possible human injury,” she said.

After earthquakes of this nature, NRCAN likes to remind members of the public to do their homework and prepare an earthquake preparedness kit and for neighbours to consider working together to formulate a “neighbourhood preparedness plan,” said Bird.

“It’s most often those who live closest to you who you would have to rely on if a more serious earthquake were to take place,” she said. “It’s never a bad idea for neighbours to work together to put together a plan should a more catastrophic episode take place.”

Emergency Management B.C. has a link on their website which informs members of the public what they should do to put together an emergency preparedness kit, she said.

Historical paleontological data indicates the largest earthquake in British Columbia’s history took place in the 1700s and the largest earthquake recorded in modern times using sophisticated data was an 8.1 magnitude earthquake that hit the Queen Charlotte fault near Haida Gwaii in 1949, she said.

“There were some serious injuries in that earthquake … and 8.1 earthquake is very significant,” she said.

Bird said she would expect some “very minor” aftershocks throughout the course of the next 24 to 48 hours.

“If there were to be some aftershocks, we would expect them to be very minor … probably in the neighbourhood of 3.0 magnitude,” she said. “They likely would not be felt by those who were affected by the earthquake on Saturday morning.”</s>SEOUL: A powerful 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit the southern region of South Korea Monday evening, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, following an earlier quake of 4.9-magnitude.

The Korea Meteorological Administration put the second tremor higher than USGS, at 5.8-magnitude.

The quake hit at around 8:30 pm (1130 GMT), with the epicentre near the southeastern city of Gyeongju.

No casualties or injuries have been reported yet, Yonhap news agency quoted the ministry of public safety as saying.</s>A powerful 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit the southern region of South Korea Monday evening, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, following an earlier quake of 4.9-magnitude.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) put the second tremor higher than USGS, at 5.8-magnitude, describing it as the "biggest ever".

"It was the biggest quake ever to hit the country," Yoo Yong-Gyu, a KMA official, told reporters, adding the tremor was "felt all across the country".

Two people have been reported injured, he said, citing data from emergency rescue authorities.

The previous record in the South was a 5.2-magnitude quake that hit the sea off the southeastern port of Uljin in 2004 and a quake of equal magnitude in the eastern mountainous region of Sokri in 1978.

Monday's second quake hit at around 8:30 pm (1130 GMT), with the epicentre near the southeastern city of Gyeongju, the KMA said.

On Friday USGS reported a 5.3-magnitude "artificial earthquake" in North Korea, that was in fact a nuclear test.

Emergency centres across the South were flooded by tens of thousands of calls seeking information, Yonhap news agency said, adding train services in some regions were temporarily delayed.

Local nuclear reactors were operating without disruption, it said, citing officials at Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.

The country's largest mobile app used by 40 million -- KakaoTalk -- partially went down with many unable to access the service, the company said, apparently due to heavy traffic.

The country's social media was also flooded with images of shattered storefront windows and people rushing out of buildings and apartments in panic, some with children in arms.

TV stations showed video footage of computers violently shaking at a local Internet cafe, students rushing out of schools, and products falling off shelves at a store.
A 6.0 magnitude earthquake hits near the Colombian city of Medellin.