Venezuela earthquake kills at least 164, injures 971, acting president says – National
At least 164 people have been killed and 971 injured after two powerful earthquakes hit Venezuela, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said Thursday, adding that rescue teams rushed to the worst-hit areas to free people trapped under the rubble.
Wednesday evening’s 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes were among the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century and were felt across the region. The country’s main airport was damaged and closed, while buildings were moved from as far away as the Brazilian Amazon, about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.
Television broadcasts on Thursday showed rescuers using power tools to get into the rubble where the buildings once stood. Shocked residents of the capital were sent pouring into the streets, and after the earthquake many people walked through the rubble searching for the missing among fallen buildings and power poles.
Images on state television showed three children, covered in dust but alive, pulled from the rubble in the province of La Guaira, which Rodríguez described as a “catastrophic area” and one of the most affected by the earthquake due to the large number of collapsed buildings.
Rodríguez said authorities were moving rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which sits north of Caracas on the coast. Officials were trying to make the most of daylight hours to speed up efforts to rescue people believed to be still trapped under the debris, he said.
“A lot of buildings have collapsed there … and we are currently doing rescue operations,” said Rodríguez.
A video shared online appeared to show dozens of people, some lying on the ground and others in hospital beds, being treated outside the hospital in La Guaira.
While Venezuela sits along many fault lines, its location across the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes less common than in other parts of Latin America.
Rodríguez urged businesses to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations, adding that search and rescue teams mandated by the United Nations are on their way to Venezuela.
Residents fled their homes in fear
During the tremors, people ran from shaking buildings in Caracas, many appeared shocked when they turned around to see collapsed walls that left furniture visible on the street. Columns of dust rose in two normally busy areas of the capital.
“It started well and slowly grew, and in the end, we all had to leave our houses, go outside and come together,” said Caracas resident Hector Ricci.
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The Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello, urged people to stay outside as the earthquake may continue to damage buildings, and many people spent hours on the streets, some sitting on the ground hugging their pets as the dust filled them. Others spend the night in parked cars, subway stations and other public places.
Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone coverage, and the earthquake damaged and closed Simón Bolívar International Airport, the country’s main airport, Rodríguez said.
In Caracas, subway services were suspended and natural gas was shut off, he said. Classes will also be canceled for several days, and the Department of Education said some school buildings will be used as shelters and donation centers.
Roberto Gamas, another resident of Caracas, said the building he was in “shook from side to side. It’s not true. The force was incredibly strong.”
The lack of cell phone signal in parts of Venezuela deepened the distress of many families, especially those among the more than 7.7 million people who fled the country during the protracted crisis and are struggling to reach relatives inside the country.
On Thursday, dozens of people took to social media asking for help to find their loved ones, posting pictures of missing relatives and where they were last known.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was also in exile, sent congratulations to X for “strength, calm and solidarity.”
Venezuela was hit by two major earthquakes
The US Geological Survey said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, struck west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas. It was 22 kilometers (about 14 miles) deep.
The USGS reported a 7.5 magnitude earthquake a minute later, with a depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) and an incident 16 kilometers (10 miles) southwest of Moron.
Several governments are offering help
Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in his address to the nation on Wednesday. He said the government is creating a fund to rebuild hospitals and destroyed homes worth US$200 million, and has instructed the ministers of economy and finance to look into this project.
Aid has poured in from countries around the world.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States is “immediately sending search and rescue teams, medical supplies, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela.”
“We will have a full government response,” Rubio said Thursday in Bahrain. “It’s going to be big. It’s going to be fast. It’s going to be efficient.”
He added that one of the runways at the international airport in Caracas was cracked by the earthquake, making it difficult for planes to land there.
Rodríguez – who became acting president after the US military operation that captured his predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and brought him to the US for trial – thanked US President Donald Trump. He said in X’s post that he later spoke with Rubio by phone without sharing details. He also expressed his gratitude to the leaders of different countries who sent messages of support and help.
Ecuador ordered humanitarian aid, while Rodríguez said Qatar, Mexico and El Salvador had sent rescuers.
“We send you all our solidarity and our prayers. Stay strong, Venezuela,” El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who once opposed the Venezuelan government, wrote on the X website.
An earthquake was felt over a wide area
Buildings in Manaus, Belem and Macapa in the Amazon in Brazil have been evacuated, according to TV Globo reports. The earthquake was also felt in the Caribbean regions of Colombia and the northeast.
The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued several tsunami warnings that were quickly lifted.
Although rare in Venezuela, earthquakes are common along the Pacific coast, including in Mexico and Chile, both of which sit near the seismically active tectonic belt known as the Ring of Fire, the area the USGS says is responsible for 90 percent of earthquakes.
