Powerful twin earthquakes killed at least 32 people and injured more than 700, Venezuela’s interim president said Thursday, after the massive tremors reduced buildings to rubble and sent residents fleeing into the streets in panic.
Rescue teams, authorities, and local residents were digging through debris in search of survivors following the disaster, which prompted interim leader Delcy Rodriguez to declare a state of emergency.
The earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude, struck the same region of Venezuela on Wednesday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The powerful shocks caused buildings to collapse in the capital, Caracas, and forced the closure of the country’s main airport.
Addressing the nation early Thursday, Rodriguez said authorities had confirmed 32 deaths and more than 700 injuries. She cautioned that the toll could rise, noting that officials had yet to receive complete information from La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit areas near the capital.
Rodriguez also said at least 20 aftershocks had followed the twin quakes.
The tremors sparked widespread panic across Caracas, where residents rushed into the streets as buildings shook.
“The stairs came away, the whole wall cracked. Things fell from the ceiling. It was horrible,” said Odalis Escalona, a 54-year-old bank employee.
US President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that the earthquakes were “massive in scale” and had caused a devastating loss of life.
“The USA stands ready, willing, and able to help. I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
An AFP journalist witnessed the collapse of a 22-story building in Caracas’s Altamira neighborhood, where desperate relatives called out the names of loved ones while volunteers climbed over piles of rubble.
“We need flashlights,” one volunteer shouted.
According to the USGS, the first quake struck at 2204 GMT, with its epicenter located 21 kilometers (13 miles) west of the coastal town of Morón. Just 39 seconds later, a second, stronger 7.5-magnitude earthquake hit roughly 45 kilometers away.
“This earthquake was the second event in a doublet,” the USGS said. “This magnitude-7.5 mainshock was preceded by a magnitude-7.2 foreshock.”
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello urged residents to evacuate damaged buildings, adding that gas supplies had been shut off in several areas as a safety precaution.
“We have some damaged structures, and we don’t want any kind of accident involving gas to occur,” he said.
Rodriguez said Maiquetía International Airport, near Caracas, had been closed after sustaining serious structural damage. Images circulating on social media showed extensive destruction inside the facility.
‘We couldn’t get out’
The earthquakes struck at depths of 22 kilometers and 10 kilometers, respectively.
At a shopping center in Caracas, frightened shoppers screamed and rushed for exits as the building shook, AFP journalists reported.
“It was unbelievable. I don’t even know how long it lasted,” said Heidi Romero, a 42-year-old shopkeeper who was on the top floor when the quake hit.
“We went out through the emergency stairs. That’s how they got us out,” she said.
Many residents remained outside for hours before cautiously returning to their homes and workplaces.
Carmen Guedez, 69, was caring for her bedridden sister when the shaking began.
“It kept getting stronger,” said the administrator, who lives in a hillside neighborhood overlooking the capital. “I started to see the windows begin to move, and then everything shook.”
Guedez said she, her sister, and a neighbor huddled together as the quake intensified.
“We couldn’t get out,” she said. “The neighbors are still out on the street.”
Cabello said the states of Trujillo, Carabobo, Miranda, and La Guaira suffered the most severe damage.
Felt across the region
The earthquakes were felt as far away as Bogotá, Colombia, where alarms sounded and some residents evacuated buildings as a precaution.
Freddy Tovar, coordinator of Colombia’s National Seismological Network, said authorities had received more than 200 reports of tremors from across the country.
“The conditions of this seismic event mean that some aftershocks may occur, which could also be widely felt across Colombian territory,” he said in a video posted on X.
Colombia’s disaster management agency, UNGRD, ruled out the possibility of a tsunami, a conclusion echoed by the U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center.
“NO tsunami, NO danger from a recent earthquake,” the center said in a post on X.
Among Venezuela’s deadliest earthquakes in recent history were the 1997 northeastern quake, which killed 73 people, and the 1967 Caracas earthquake, which claimed 236 lives.
Shortly after the twin quakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday, a separate magnitude-7.2 earthquake hit northern Japan. No casualties or significant damage were reported.
AFP
