The history of the Saavedra Caicedo family is one of the most moved by stories after the earthquake that shook Colombia. In a matter of seconds, a family that was gathered at home found themselves trapped among the rubble of a building that collapsed in Cali.
Jairo Hernán Saavedra and Victoria Caicedo were beside their three daughters, the triplets Ana María, Sofía, and Isabella. Also with them was Diego Caycedo, Victoria’s brother and the girls’ uncle.
The search began immediately after the collapse and became a race against time. Among tons of concrete, rescue teams scanned for signs of life while relatives and friends waited outside with the hope of embracing them again.
One of the triplets was rescued alive
In the midst of despair, came a report that for a few hours rekindled the family’s hope: Ana María, one of the triplets, was found alive.
The young woman was rescued and transported to a Cali clinic for medical care. Her survival brought enormous relief to her relatives, though uncertainty persisted as her parents and her two sisters remained trapped.
While Ana María remained under medical care, emergency teams continued to work amid unstable structures to try to reach the rest of the family.
Jairo and Victoria were found embraced
In the early hours of August 12, came one of the most painful news.
Rescuers located the bodies of Jairo Hernán Saavedra and Victoria Caicedo. But there was a detail that moved those waiting for news about the family: the parents were found embracing.
Amid the rubble, the couple stayed together until the very last moment.
The image sums up, in a deeply painful way, a story of love and family that was interrupted abruptly by the tragedy.
Soon after, the death of Sofía, another one of the triplets, was also confirmed.
Thus, the family was marked by a loss that is impossible to quantify: Jairo and Victoria had died, one of their daughters had also died, Ana María had survived and Isabella remained to be found.
The search for Isabella continues
While the family received the hardest news, rescuers kept looking for Isabella among the building’s remains.
Each hour turned into a tense wait. For their loved ones, the search represents the last hope to find her and to give a closing chapter to a tragedy that began abruptly.
Rescue operations continued amid damaged structures and large concrete blocks, forcing teams to move with extreme caution.
The family, meanwhile, remains attentive to every sign and to every movement among the debris.
A day before, the family shared moments of happiness
There is another detail that made the Saavedra Caicedo story even more moving.
One day before the earthquake, Jairo had been out with friends. Between music and gatherings, he seemed to be living a life that progressed with absolute normality.
One of his friends, known as DJ Prilla, said he had been with him a few hours before the tragedy. Jairo, a music enthusiast, asked him to play a song he particularly valued: “Siempre Alegre”.
After the earthquake, that memory took on a different meaning.
A video recorded on August 9, just one day before the quake, began circulating, showing Jairo with Victoria dancing and socializing with friends.
They are everyday images, a couple enjoying a moment of happiness. Today, for those who knew them, they became a memory of the last moments they shared before everything changed.
Among the rubble lay small fragments of their story
During the search, Jairo’s friends also found some objects belonging to his daily life, including part of his record collection.
They are small items that, in the midst of a tragedy of such magnitude, acquire renewed meaning.
Because behind every heap of rubble there is not only a collapsed structure. There is a home, photographs, personal belongings, memories and a family life that until just hours earlier was unfolding normally.
The Saavedra Caicedo story helps measure precisely that part of the disaster: the part that does not appear in the figures, but has a name, a face and a family waiting.
A tragedy that moves Colombia
The earthquake left thousands of families affected and forced the deployment of intensive rescue and relief tasks in different parts of the country.
But within a catastrophe that affects so many people, each story has its own pain.
The one about the Saavedra Caicedo family is especially moving for the image of Jairo and Victoria found embracing, for Sofía’s death, for Ana María’s survival, and for the wait that still holds everyone who loves Isabella in suspense.
Just days ago they were a family gathered at home. Today, three of them are gone, one daughter fights to recover and another continues to be sought.
And while rescue teams keep working among the rubble, the family remains united in a single hope: to find Isabella and support Ana María on the path that begins after a tragedy that changed their lives forever.
