The residents were left without electricity and water, communications were affected and the damage to the town's airport meant that it could only be used by helicopters and smaller planes.

[10] The government responded by securing credit from the World Bank and earmarked $80 million for the city, with half of this to be used for reconstruction and the rest for economic regeneration.

[11] Famous narcotics trafficker, Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, traveled to Popayán and gifted 200,000 dollars to victims of the disaster.

[13] Consequently, the following year, the Colombian government passed a new building code (Spanish: Código Colombiano de Construcciones Sismorresistentes)[14] into legislation which required the construction of dwellings capable of resisting earthquakes.

[15] Gómez Tapias, Jorge; Montes Ramírez, Nohora E.; Almanza Meléndez, María F.; Alcárcel Gutiérrez, Fernando A.; Madrid Montoya, César A.; Diederix, Hans (2015).