At least 188 people are confirmed dead after a devastating Venezuela earthquake struck on Wednesday evening, with the United States Geological Survey warning that the final toll could reach between 10,000 and 100,000 lives.
Twin earthquakes struck within seconds of each other, killing 188, injuring at least 1,520 and leaving around 200 people trapped and awaiting rescue, according to National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez.
The disaster began with a magnitude 7.2 foreshock, followed just 39 seconds later by a larger magnitude 7.5 mainshock, in what seismologists are calling a destructive doublet and the largest seismic event in Venezuela since 1900. The Venezuela earthquake has triggered emergency alerts across the region.
The epicentres were located in Yaracuy state, west of Caracas, though the shaking was felt across the capital and much of central and western Venezuela, including the states of Carabobo, Miranda, La Guaira and Trujillo. Tremors were also reported in neighbouring Colombia and as far as Brazil’s Amazon region, more than 1,700 kilometres from Caracas.
Horror in the streets
The earthquakes struck shortly after 6 p.m. local time. People evacuated swaying buildings in Caracas and remained outside, many visibly shocked as they saw entire walls collapsed, making furniture visible from the street. Dust columns rose over two neighbourhoods as restaurants and other businesses, typically busy at that hour, emptied into the streets.
Maria Alejandra, a woman who escaped a collapsed building in Caracas, told Reuters that “all the walls were cracked.” She said: “We managed to open the door however we could. There was a cloud of smoke that wouldn’t let us see. And when we went downstairs, the scene was like a horror movie. We had to climb over the rubble and everything. From that building, I only saw that one family got out.”
Venezuelan journalist María Graterol was in her home in Caracas when the Venezuela earthquake hit. “You could see how the walls were moving and everything was moving around,” she told NPR’s All Things Considered.
Caracas resident Roberto Gamas said: “The building really shook from side to side. Unreal. The force was incredibly strong.”
La Guaira: a disaster zone
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said La Guaira, on Venezuela’s northern coast, was the hardest-hit state. “Dozens of buildings have collapsed and we are engaged in the arduous task of rescuing the lives that God allows us to save,” she said. “The state of La Guaira is facing a true tragedy and has become a disaster zone.”
A United Nations humanitarian agency reported that more than 100 buildings collapsed in La Guaira alone following the Venezuela earthquake.
A photo posted on social media and verified by CBC News showed the renowned Hotel Eduards in La Guaira completely collapsed. The beachfront retreat, which had 106 rooms, had been a popular coastal destination.
In the Altamira district of Caracas, emergency crews rescued survivors from the rubble of a 22-storey building as relatives searched desperately for missing loved ones, Al Jazeera reported.
Children pulled from Venezuela earthquake rubble
Three children were among those pulled to safety in a rescue aired on state television. Footage showed the young children climbing over piles of rubble in La Guaira.
In another incident, medical students from the Central University of Venezuela helped free a man who was pinned under the beams of a collapsed restaurant in the town of Caraballeda.
Edury Orellana, a resident of La Guaira, told CNN that every building in his area had collapsed. “Thank God all my family could evacuate unharmed, everyone could leave the buildings unharmed,” he said. But he stressed that many of his neighbours remained stuck beneath debris or had gone unaccounted for.
Daniela De Pascuali, a Venezuelan living in Argentina, was waiting for news about her 73-year-old father and her 100-year-old grandmother. “In the area where my father lives, thank God there are no collapsed buildings, so I have hope that they are OK. But there is no communication, so I am waiting for them to get in touch,” she told CNN.
Rescuers overwhelmed by Venezuela earthquake destruction
Jesús Armas, working with neighbours in some of the worst-affected parts of Caracas, said first responders simply did not have the necessary equipment to save survivors still buried. People were sitting on mattresses in the streets with nowhere to go. He could hear screams from under the rubble.
At least 138 aftershocks have been recorded, making rescue efforts far more dangerous.
Médecins Sans Frontières medical coordinator Halima Husein said many people had gathered in public spaces and could not return home. “There is no services at all in some parts of town, especially La Guaira,” she said. “The people are just in the streets because many buildings just fall apart.”
A $200 million reconstruction fund was announced by acting President Rodríguez to repair hospitals, houses and other collapsed infrastructure.
Rescue teams say the scale of destruction caused by the Venezuela earthquake continues to exceed available resources.
Internet blackout hampers response
NetBlocks, an independent internet monitoring group, reported that national internet connectivity remained severely diminished nine hours after the Venezuela earthquake struck, saying the outage corresponded to power cuts and infrastructure damage, which is hindering rescue efforts and limiting visibility of events on the ground.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela called on the country’s telecommunications regulator to fully restore access to social media and all media outlets. In the coming hours and days, access to information will be a matter of life and death,” the organisation said.
International response
International support is growing as the Venezuela earthquake continues to strain emergency response efforts across the country.
The Fairfax County Search and Rescue team in the United States is sending 80 people, six search dogs, three doctors, three structural specialists, and nearly 70,000 pounds of equipment to Venezuela, public information officer John Morrison told CNN.
France announced it would send 85 search and rescue specialists to Venezuela. Germany said it was preparing up to six A400M military transport aircraft to assist with aid deliveries, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius confirmed.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said his country was ready to send 300 rescue personnel and 50 tons of equipment, medicine and essential supplies.
Pope Leo XIV sent €100,000 in aid for Venezuela earthquake relief after consulting the Apostolic Nuncio to the country and the Archbishop of Caracas, according to Vatican News.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed that Canada was preparing to provide humanitarian assistance. “This obviously is a fast-developing tragedy,” he said at a press conference in Ottawa.
Countries across the Americas and Europe have pledged aid following the Venezuela earthquake
Death toll may be far higher
The USGS estimates a 44% chance that the death toll from the Venezuela earthquake could exceed 10,000 people, and a 30% chance it could surpass 100,000, based on predictive modelling. The agency issued a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses, warning: “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread.”
USGS seismologist Paul Earle told NPR that economic losses were likely to reach billions to tens of billions of dollars. “This doesn’t happen very often,” Earle said of the doublet quake sequence. “When they’re right together, it’s hard to understand what would happen.”
The only earthquake larger than Wednesday’s Venezuela earthquake to strike the country was a 7.7-magnitude quake in October 1900. The most comparable modern disaster was the 1967 Caracas earthquake, a magnitude 6.6 event that killed roughly 240 people and collapsed several high-rise buildings.
Rescue teams continue working through the night. Officials have confirmed that the confirmed death toll of 188 remains a fraction of what many fear is buried beneath the ruins of one of South America’s most densely populated capitals.
