HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — For Edgar Vallejo, news of the earthquake in Colombia hit close to home. Vallejo is the owner of Cali Viejo, a Colombian restaurant and cafe in Brandon. He learned about the earthquake from his son, David, who called shortly after the shaking began Monday morning.
Edgar Vallejo said, “It was like 7:40 a.m. when my son called and said that, 'we just had the most horrible experience'…He said 'I think it was an earthquake.'”
WATCH: Colombian business owner checks on family after deadly earthquake
Tampa Bay 28 later spoke to David on the phone while he was still in Colombia. He said, “The earthquake happened at like 7:40 a.m., and I had woken up like 5 minutes before, and so it…when the walls just started shaking, I was really just it took me a couple seconds to process what was going on. Then it kept shaking for about a minute and a half, so I was just really scared.”
David explained he was scared for his life.
“It was just like a minute of terror,” David said.
Thankfully, David is safe.
After hearing from his son, Vallejo spent the day calling family members and friends across Colombia to make sure they were safe.
Eventually, he was able to reach his entire family.
Now he said he is working with nonprofits to gather aid to send back to Colombia to help people impacted by the earthquake.
He said the response is a reflection of the Colombian community, which he described as proud and willing to come together to help those in need.
Vallejo said, “We’re survivors, you know? We are very proud people. We love to be Colombians.”
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