LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — Venezuelans searched for survivors beneath collapsed buildings Thursday and rescue teams raced to northern areas rocked by a pair of powerful earthquakes that officials say killed at least 188 people and left more than 200 trapped.
More were feared dead from the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday evening -- among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and felt throughout the region. Some 1,500 people were injured, thousands were reported missing and buildings were evacuated as far away as Brazil’s Amazon.
In cities across northern Venezuela, panicked residents poured out into the streets and searched for the missing in the debris. Injured children, animals and civilians covered in dust and blood were pulled out of concrete rubble.
One mother sobbed and collapsed in grief as the bodies of her 3- and 10-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and carried away. Others screamed the names of missing loved ones. Some stood in silent shock.
The coastal region of La Guaira -- north of the capital, Caracas -- suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties, and it’s there that the country’s main airport was damaged and closed, complicating aid efforts.
Retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendano climbed through wreckage in La Guaira and past a dead body when he spotted a woman who was trapped and signaling with her hand for help.
“May God rescue her as quickly as possible,” said Mendano. “When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.”
Offers of help poured in from around the world, including from the United States, which seized Venezuela’s then-president Nicolas Maduro at the beginning of the year in a surprise military operation.
The natural disaster is just the latest challenge for acting President Delcy Rodriguez, the former vice president who took office in January after Maduro’s capture. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodriguez represents.
Rescue teams head to heavily damaged coastal region
Venezuelan authorities said they were diverting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which is no stranger to natural disasters; a 1999 mudslide there, considered one of the country’s worst natural disasters, killed thousands.
Rodriguez appealed to businesses Thursday to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations, while a United Nations spokesperson said search and rescue teams were just hours away.
“We are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” said Rodriguez, who referred to La Guaira as a “disaster zone.”
Jorge Rodriguez, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly and brother of the acting president, gave updated figures for the numbers of dead, trapped and injured.
While Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, hit west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometres (105 miles) west of Caracas. It had a depth of 22 kilometres (about 14 miles). Just a minute later, USGS reported a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake, with a depth of 10 kilometres (about 6 miles) and an epicenter 16 kilometres (10 miles) southwest of Moron.
The one-two punch of the quakes, combined with the shallow seismic movements, amplified the destruction, said Marcos Ferreira, a geophysicist and researcher at the Geological Survey of Brazil.
“It is as if I am screaming and then someone starts screaming, too. That amplifies the vibration and adds to the potential hazard,” Ferreira said.
Venezuela residents reeling from two strong quakes
During the quakes, people ran from swaying buildings. Many were stunned Thursday morning as they saw buildings reduced to skeletons, furniture hanging out of windows and helicopters circling overhead.
In La Guaira, Cristian Carreno stared at his charred apartment building tilting precariously to one side.
“I lost everything,” he said. “There are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn’t get out. It’s incredibly devastating.”
Dayana Delgado, mother of three children, said she was desperate because her 8-year-old son was missing.
“I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said.
Authorities warned people against returning to homes with structural damage. In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots and other open spaces.
“We were afraid the buildings would collapse on us,” said Maria Cristina Diaz, a 41-year-old janitor. “My mother, my daughter and I were cold. We didn’t sleep a wink.”
“It was awful. We cried, we screamed. Thankfully, we’re alive,” she added.
Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone service, Rodriguez said. Subway services were suspended and natural gas was shut off, she said. Classes will also be cancelled for several days, and the Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters and donation centres.
Families began posting missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones, while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched for those still unaccounted for. Venezuelans living abroad struggled to make contact with relatives.
Shortly after the UN human rights mission in Venezuela called on the government to lift local restrictions on social media so people can get more timely access to potentially life-saving information. In August 2024, Maduro ordered X blocked in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information among those who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential elections.
Several governments offered assistance
Rodriguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a US$200 million reconstruction fund for hospitals and homes damaged by the earthquakes, and had instructed the economy and finance ministers to oversee the effort.
Countries from across the world from Qatar to Mexico began to send aid to Venezuela. Rodriguez expressed thanks for the messages of support and offers for help.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had spoken to Rodríguez following the quake, said the United States is “immediately” deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources other assistance, though he acknowledged the closure of the country’s main airport was creating some logistical challenges.
ByJuan Pablo Arraez, Megan Janetsky And Regina Garcia Cano, The Associaed Press
Garcia Cano reported from Bogota, Colombia, and Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Anna-Catherine Brigida in Mexico City, Danica Coto in San Juan, Clara Preve in Buenos Aires, Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia, Alexandra Olson in New York, and Edith Lederer at the United Nations, contributed to this report.
