“They pulled people out alive,” says Alberto, an onlooker, as a digger’s steel teeth smash(猛撞，粉碎) into a heap of concrete. It is all that remains of a four-storey building in Quibdó, a city in the western state of Chocó that was near the epicentre of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake which struck Colombia on August 10th.(这是基布多市一栋四层建筑仅存的残骸，该市位于西部乔科省，靠近8月10日袭击哥伦比亚的7.4级地震的震中。) Aftershocks brought down more buildings. Around the country, at least 265 people have died.
“他们把人活着拉了出来，”旁观者阿尔贝托说，此时挖掘机的钢齿正砸进一堆混凝土中。这是基布多市一栋四层建筑仅存的残骸。基布多位于西部乔科省，靠近8月10日袭击哥伦比亚的7.4级地震的震中。余震又震塌了更多建筑。全国至少有265人遇难。
The earthquake was as powerful as(与……一样强大) the deadly pair that devastate(摧毁，使荒废)d Venezuela in June. But it occurred about ten times deeper in the Earth’s crust(地壳), reducing its destructive force. Crucially, too, the Colombian government reacted much faster than the Venezuelan regime. Abelardo de la Espriella, sworn in(宣誓就职) as president only three days before the tremors, assumed command(接管指挥权) of the situation.
这次地震的威力与6月重创委内瑞拉的那对致命地震相当。但它发生在地壳中约十倍更深的位置，从而减弱了其破坏力。同样关键的是，哥伦比亚政府的反应比委内瑞拉政权快得多。阿贝拉多·德·拉·埃斯普列利亚在震前三天才宣誓就任总统，他接管了局势的指挥权。
Yet the earthquake has still highlighted local deprivation(贫困，匮乏). Chocó is Colombia’s poorest state. The hospital in Quibdó is the only place that offers even basic surgery. Bandits extort(敲诈，勒索) the poor population, 75% of whom are Afro-Colombian(非裔哥伦比亚人) and 13% indigenous. Alberto complains about a lack of machinery: “The municipality is in bad shape(状况糟糕),” he says. Rescue teams started work on the morning of the 11th, but the end of a 72-hour window after the quake, reckoned to be the period when lives can be saved, has passed.(救援队于11日早上开始工作，但地震后72小时的窗口期——被认为是能救活生命的时期——已经过去。) Of the three people pulled out of the rubble(瓦砾，碎石), two have died. The people of Chocó, Alberto says, have been “abandoned by the state”.
然而，地震仍然凸显了当地的贫困。乔科是哥伦比亚最贫穷的州。基布多的医院是唯一能提供基本手术的地方。匪徒敲诈贫困人口，其中75%是非裔哥伦比亚人，13%是原住民。阿尔贝托抱怨缺乏机械设备：“市政状况很糟，”他说。救援队于11日早上开始工作，但地震后72小时的窗口期——被认为是能救活生命的时期——已经过去。从废墟中救出的三人中，两人已经死亡。阿尔贝托说，乔科人民被“国家抛弃”了。
Reality bites
现实残酷