Venezuela’s Interim President Delcy Rodríguez has said the twin earthquakes killed at least 32 people and injured 700.
Rescue teams from other countries were due to arrive in Venezuela within hours, she also said.
She expressed gratitude to US President Donald Trump for offering assistance in the aftermath of the disaster, reports The Guardian.
Rodríguez had earlier declared a state of emergency after the back‑to‑back quakes collapsed buildings in the capital and forced closure of Venezuela’s main airport.
Delcy Rodriguez said 20 aftershocks had followed the earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, which struck the same area of Venezuela, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
Three people were killed when two buildings collapsed in Baruta, a municipality of Caracas, its mayor Darwin González said.
In a post on X, González reported that other residents had been rescued and the injured were receiving treatment.
According to a BBC report, high casualties and extensive damage are feared, with the USGS estimating a 44 per cent chance the death toll could exceed 10,000.
The quakes struck at 18:04 local time (23:04 BST) as Venezuela marked a national holiday on Wednesday, with many people at home. It triggered panic in the capital and drove people into the streets, AFP journalists saw.
“The stairs came away, the whole wall cracked. Things fell from the ceiling. It was horrible,” said 54-year-old bank employee Odalis Escalona.
It remained unknown if there were fatalities, but some people were injured and buildings had collapsed, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said earlier.
An AFP journalist saw a 22-story building completely destroyed in the capital’s Altamira neighborhood, where people cried out relatives’ names as volunteers climbed over the rubble.
“We need flashlights,” one of them said.
The first quake, with an epicenter 21 kilometres (13 miles) west of the coastal town of Moron, occurred at 2204 GMT, USGS said. Within a minute, a 7.5-magnitude quake struck about 45 kilometers away.
“This earthquake was the second event in a doublet. This magnitude 7.5 mainshock was preceded by 39 seconds by a 7.2 foreshock,” USGS said.
