Shakira heads to Chocó, the region hit hardest by Colombia's earthquake, to stand with the victims

One week out from the earthquake that shook Colombia to its core, Shakira is returning home. On Monday, the singer travels to Chocó, the area that bore the brunt of the magnitude-7.4 quake that struck on August 10 with an epicenter in San José del Palmar. It's a trip she's making not as a performer, but as a Colombian. 

A homecoming with a purpose

© Matthias Hangst

According to Vanitatis, Shakira is expected to land around 2:30 p.m. local time and head to a local school, accompanied by the mayor and the governor of the region. Her arrival is scheduled for roughly 3:15 p.m., when she'll spend the day with students, families, and teachers still reeling from the disaster.

The stop is no coincidence: the school sits at the intersection of Shakira's music career and her philanthropic one. It's tied to her Barefoot Foundation, which opened its first school in Quibdó, Chocó's capital, back in 2005. In the two decades since, the foundation has built out a network of programs aimed at improving educational access for children and expanding opportunities for teenagers and young adults across Colombia, with education as the throughline of everything it does.

Few artists carry the weight that Shakira does in Colombia, and her presence in Chocó this week is being read as a gesture of solidarity from one of the country's own, delivered in person rather than from a stage or a screen.

© Getty Images

The toll, one week on

The numbers behind this trip are still changing. Colombia's National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD) has revised its casualty count almost daily since the quake struck. As of the most recent balance, the toll stands at roughly 287 dead, over 4,000 injured, and close to 200 people still unaccounted for.

The earthquake's reach extended well beyond Chocó, with aftershocks rattling multiple regions of the country in the days that followed.

What Shakira said first

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Shakira's response to the disaster began the day it happened, posted to her social media as the scale of the damage was still coming into focus. "My dear Colombia, my heart is with everyone who felt the earthquake, and with the families that are going through these difficult moments," she wrote on Instagram. 

"In moments like this, Colombians know how to band together and lift each other up," she continued. "All my strenght and love for my land." 

Trading a tour break for a trip home

The timing wasn't convenient, but Shakira made the necessary arrangements anyway. The earthquake hit during a break in her "Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour," set to bring her to Madrid this September as part of a European residency. 

The dates there will cap one of the busiest years of her career. Rather than spending her break resting, Shakira chose to redirect her energy towards Chocó. 

© Kevin Mazur