Bogota

Colombian superstar Shakira made a surprise visit to a hard-hit region of her home country, announcing multiple commitments to rebuild schools and a university there after Colombia suffered a devastating earthquake last week.

The globally recognised “Hips Don't Lie” musician on Monday toured damaged schools in Quibdo, the capital of the Colombian province of Choco, an area where roughly 40 schools completely collapsed and hundreds more were affected.

"What worries me the most is that schools are not rebuilt once this emergency is over,” Shakira told journalists after visiting with students, hugging and taking photos with them. “Every day that children don't go to school is a day they miss out on their future.”

She was accompanied by Howard Buffett, son of billionaire philanthropist Warren Buffett and longtime donor to Colombia who has helped Shakira set up schools there before. The Howard G Buffett foundation will collaborate with Shakira's Fundacion Pies Descalzos, or Barefoot Foundation, to reconstruct 10 schools.

“When she calls, I come,” Buffett said during the visit.

The singer also said she would focus her “personal efforts” on rebuilding a severely damaged technological university in Chocó, and announced pledges of USD 500,000 each from the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund and Live Nation and USD 250,000 from CAF Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean toward rebuilding schools and getting children back into classrooms.

The 7.4 magnitude quake on August 10 struck a vast swath of western Colombia, killing at least 287 people and destroying more than 26,000 dwellings, authorities said.

The government has said 194 people are missing, while other civilian-run databases put the number at more than 4,100. Thousands of educational centres were affected.

The epicenter was in Choco, one of Colombia's poorest regions and where at least 3,100 homes were destroyed, according to the regional government's latest report Monday.

“It's a place I love, a place where I've seen our students grow in our classrooms,” Shakira said in a video posted on X by the Colombian news outlet La FM.

Her foundation, which focuses on educational access for youths in Colombia, has been in Choco for 22 years, running two schools from which hundreds of students have graduated. “I really want to see it rebuild again,” she said.

Aid groups and officials are still assessing the damage in Choco, an area the size of Switzerland where communication and travel are challenging. The province has few roads linking it to the rest of the country, and its towns and villages are connected mostly by rivers and unpaved roads.

Most of Choco's 600,000 inhabitants live in poverty, according to figures published last year by Colombia's national government, and it is largely inhabited by Indigenous tribes and Afro-Colombian communities.

“There is not a way to alleviate the pain of so many, there are no magic solutions," Shakira, 49, said during her visit to a large high school in Quibdo.

“But what there is, is commitment to be here alongside those from Choco, to not abandon El Choco like it historically has been abandoned, until every Colombian and every person from Chocó can return to their normal lives like they deserve and all the children can return to their schools and dream of the futures they deserve," she said.

The Grammy award winner, known for hits like “Whenever, Wherever”, “La Tortura” and the 2026 FIFA World Cup anthem “Dai Dai”, is a longtime supporter of educational access and advancement.

She recently headlined the halftime show of the World Cup final match in July and performed in May on Brazil's Copacabana Beach to a crowd of 2 million.

After Venezuela's twin earthquakes in June, Shakira announced the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund would commit USD 500,000 to education recovery there.

Her announcement is the latest of many commitments from prominent Colombians and other Latin American artists to help Colombia and Venezuela.

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On Sunday, Marc Anthony and Chayanne joined dozens of other artists at a Miami benefit concert and live fundraiser for both countries' earthquake relief.

Colombian singer Karol G pledged to match fan donations to her Con Cora Foundation during her three-night run at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles last weekend. She will also join Maluma, Sebastián Yatra and others at a benefit concert in Bogotá this Sunday.