"It reminded me of Israel with the sirens and the bombs," Israeli resident Fernando Chaim Bisker told The Jerusalem Post from Bogotá, Colombia.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 shook Colombia's coastal Choco province at 7:34 a.m. local time on Monday, killing at least 21 people and trapping an unknown number of people underneath rubble. According to the geological service, the quake struck at a depth of 79 km, with its epicenter near San José del Palmar.
Bisker, his wife Chaya, and their two children were on holiday in Cali until yesterday, when they flew to the capital.
Bisker said they are safe as the building is new and is built to be protected in case of an earthquake.
Nevertheless, the earthquake was frightening.
"I was having my breakfast after Shacharit [morning prayers], and then we noticed it was shaking stronger and stronger. And I always saw it in the movies, not in my life. And we went down to the street, and we needed to hold on to the walls because we could not walk; it was shaking so much."
Down in the street, he said he could see all the buildings shaking.
Something 'beautiful' happened on the street in Colombia
"It's not an easy feeling."
While standing in the street in his pajamas holding his two children, Bisker said something "beautiful" happened.
"I went to the street with kippah - I'm a religious Jew. And the people there in the street started saying, 'Viva Israel' and 'bless us.' That was very touching to see the people in the street ask me to bless them."
"Usually people think that there is so much hate, but there is so much love toward the Jewish people."