Cape Talk, Thursday night

And the environment. Well, as it so happens, there are ways, and our solutions today involve podcasters, music producers, and an inspiring student. From the BBC World Service, I'm Myra Anubi, and this is People Fixing the World. Terrifying Moments in Cali in Southwestern Colombia. August 10th, 2026.

Colombia experienced its biggest earthquake in the last decade. More than 300 people died. Radio reporter Laura Ubate found herself drawn into the disaster in an unexpected way. That's Laura on Instagram the very next day, appealing to fellow podcasters, musicians, and sound engineers, anyone with experience in sound recording, to reach out to her.

She was appealing for them to help. But how? Well, I've got Laura on the line to tell us more. Laura, thank you for joining us. I mean, I have to start by saying that this was really terrible. What happened? Yes, it was pretty bad. It was a Monday morning. I was at home. I live in Colombia's capital city, Bogotá, and it was shaking so bad that we had to evacuate the building. It is by far the strongest earthquake I've felt, and I was.

Born and raised here. Pretty soon, I got a text from a radio producer colleague, Nathalie Spitia Diaz, in Cali, which is a city in the southwest of Colombia. She said she was trying to form a sound brigade. What exactly is a sound brigade? Basically, it's a group of audio professionals that join local rescuers to find people trapped in collapsed buildings. Now, I didn't know about this either until that day. The idea is to use my

Microphones and audio gear to catch what the human ear can hear. Natalie sent that message through a WhatsApp group of podcasters that I've started a few years ago. And within hours, there were more than 30 volunteers. Wow, so just to be clear, the solution is to get podcasters, musicians, people who work with sound to be able to hear the calls or cries of people who are under the rubble. Exactly. A couple of weeks ago, I went to Cali to finally meet Natalie.