"We are in a race against time to save lives," Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder told reporters on Wednesday, warning there was now less than a day left of a critical 72-hour window during which there are far greater chances of finding quake survivors.
"We will keep working after this window, but it is important to rescue the most people we can in this day we have left," Eder said, adding that rescue workers needed silence and order to detect survivors under the mountains of rubble.
Official estimates suggest the 7.4-magnitude quake, which struck the South American country just after 7am on Monday, also injured 3770 people, destroyed more than 9550 homes and impacted more than 30,300 families.
In Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, more than 56 buildings collapsed, killing at least 95 people and injuring close to 1000 others, according to data from Asocapitales, the country's capital cities association.
Pereira, deep in the coffee-growing region and some 55km from the quake's epicentre, counted at least 79 dead, according to Asocapitales. The mayor's office said 300 people were missing.
The earthquake struck just days after the inauguration of President Abelardo De La Espriella, who won a narrow victory against the candidate of the prior leftist government on a platform centred on less public spending and tougher security.
He traveled to the affected regions early this week and pledged aid to those who lost homes and businesses due to the quake. Several local mayors have announced nightly curfews, citing the possibility of looting.
"The earthquake will be the first test for the new Colombian president," said Tiziano Breda, senior analyst for Latin America and the Caribbean at conflict monitoring group ACLED.
"De La Espriella ran on a platform to cut public finances, including defunding the state's risk management unit.
"This unit is currently at the forefront of the emergency response."
Colombia's Foreign Minister Omar Bula rejected reports that the government had turned down international offers of aid, saying his office was co-ordinating the delivery of shipments that began arriving from Peru, Mexico and El Salvador.
Rescue efforts in Cali were concentrated around seven buildings that might still hold survivors.
At the Torres del Limonar complex in the southern part of the city, residents formed long bucket brigades with soldiers, employees of the mayor's office and others, handing down rubble from the peak of the debris.
