Colombia’s Aid Chaos Got an AI Lifeline

Colombia’s Aid Chaos Got an AI Lifeline
After Colombia’s devastating earthquake, civilians moved faster than the formal response but struggled with a basic problem: goodwill was everywhere, coordination was not. Their answer was a hastily built AI tool that turned scattered donation hubs into a more navigable relief network.

The 7.4-magnitude quake struck last month, cutting water, electricity and cellphone service for more than 1.5 million people. It ultimately killed more than 300 people and injured over 4,500, officials said, with the worst-hit area remote and marked by deep poverty.

In the first hours and days, residents improvised. Homes, cafés, universities, churches, gyms and even a brewery became places to give or collect supplies. But the civilian surge produced its own crisis of mismatched aid: food at one location, water at another; diapers gone; clothing shortages mounting. Sebastián Mejía, who opened three collection points at his Pereira coffee shops, put the problem bluntly: “We’re very disorganized when it comes to the donation drop-off points and the distribution of help.”

Mejía asked tech entrepreneur Felipe Restrepo Lebrun to build an app. Spotty internet delayed the message until the following day — a reminder that the communications collapse was itself part of the disaster. Once he received it, Restrepo Lebrun used AI to build a website within two hours, mapping donation points and organizing information on available aid.

The project did not erase the scale of the emergency. It did, however, give volunteers a shared picture of where supplies were piling up and where they were missing. Like civilian-led efforts after earthquakes in Venezuela, the Colombian initiative was designed to fill gaps left by the government’s disaster response.

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