Major earthquakes strike Venezuela, triggering deadly damage and emergency response

Two powerful earthquakes tore through Venezuela within minutes of each other, toppling buildings in Caracas, sending residents into the streets and pushing rescue crews into collapsed structures where survivors were most likely to be trapped. Preliminary readings placed the quakes at magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, with the stronger shock striking at about 10 kilometers deep near Morón and Yumare in north-central Venezuela around 6:04 p.m. local time.

The damage spread far beyond the capital. Tremors were felt across Venezuela and as far away as Brazil’s Amazon, roughly 1,700 kilometers from Caracas, while buildings were evacuated in multiple cities and towns. In Caracas, power outages and communication disruptions complicated the first hours of the response as crews searched the rubble of multi-storey buildings for people who might still be alive beneath collapsed concrete.

The U.S. Geological Survey warned that high casualties and widespread destruction were probable, and the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System issued a red earthquake alert for Venezuela. GDACS said the event could have a high humanitarian impact because of its magnitude, the number of people exposed to severe shaking and the country’s limited coping capacity. The agency estimated an exposed population of about 810,000 people in areas that experienced very strong shaking.

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared a state of emergency as officials tried to account for the dead, injured and missing. By the latest verified figures, 32 people had died and 700 had been injured, a toll that remained in motion as rescuers worked through damaged neighborhoods and emergency teams assessed which buildings were safe to enter. The strongest shaking hit the north-central corridor, where older structures, dense urban housing and strained public services left little margin for a major seismic event.

The earthquakes landed on top of a broader national emergency. Years of economic collapse and deteriorating infrastructure have weakened Venezuela’s hospitals, power grid and emergency response systems, raising the risk that the first 24 hours will decide whether the disaster remains a rescue operation or turns into a wider displacement crisis. For now, the most urgent work is still the simplest and hardest: clearing debris fast enough to reach anyone who survived the collapse.