Rescue workers and residents continued searching through collapsed buildings across northern Venezuela on Thursday after two powerful earthquakes killed around 235 people and injured at least 4,300, while thousands remained missing.
Health Minister Carlos Alvarado said around 235 victims either arrived at hospitals without vital signs or died shortly after reaching medical facilities, reports AP/UNB.
“Unfortunately we have received around 235 patients who arrive without vital signs or die when they arrive at our health facilities,” he told state media.
Authorities warned that the death toll was likely to rise as rescue operations continued following the twin earthquakes, measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, which struck on Wednesday evening.
Among the strongest earthquakes to hit Venezuela in more than a century, the tremors were felt across much of the region, prompting evacuations as far away as Brazil’s Amazon. Thousands of people have been reported missing.
In response to the disaster, the US Treasury announced on Thursday that it would temporarily waive certain sanctions until 23 October to allow transactions related to earthquake relief efforts that would otherwise be prohibited.
Across northern Venezuela, panicked residents poured into the streets and searched desperately for missing relatives beneath piles of concrete and twisted metal.
The injured, including children and animals, were pulled from the rubble covered in dust and blood. State television broadcast dramatic rescue footage, including the survival of a woman trapped beneath a concrete slab, with only one bare foot visible before emergency crews managed to free her alive. Outside Caracas, however, few official search-and-rescue teams were visible.
In the capital, Dayana Delgado, the mother of three children, questioned the absence of the heavy machinery promised by the government, saying neighbours were carrying out much of the rescue work themselves.
“I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said of her missing eight-year-old son.
Scenes of grief unfolded across the disaster zone as one mother collapsed after the bodies of her three-year-old and 10-year-old children were recovered. Others cried out the names of missing relatives, while many stood in stunned silence.
The coastal state of La Guaira, north of Caracas, suffered some of the heaviest destruction and loss of life. Venezuela’s main international airport, located there, was closed after sustaining damage, complicating relief operations.
Retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendaño said he climbed over shattered buildings and passed bodies while searching through the wreckage in La Guaira before spotting a trapped woman signalling for help with one hand.
“May God rescue her as quickly as possible,” he said. “When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.”
Offers of humanitarian assistance poured in from around the world, including from the United States, which earlier this year captured Venezuela’s then-president Nicolás Maduro in a surprise military operation.
The earthquakes pose the biggest challenge yet for interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who assumed office in January following Maduro’s capture. Venezuela has already endured more than a decade of economic turmoil, while many citizens continue to reject the legitimacy of the political movement led by Rodríguez.
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 killed thousands in what is considered one of the country’s worst natural disasters.
Rodríguez appealed to businesses Thursday to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations.
“We hope to rescue as many living people as possible,” said Rodríguez, who referred to La Guaira as a “disaster zone.”
She said the first rescuers from the Dominican Republic were about to land and more from other countries were expected to arrive in the coming hours.
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 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas. It had a depth of 22 kilometers (about 14 miles). Just a minute later, USGS reported a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake, with a depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) and an epicenter 16 kilometers (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 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 Carreño 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.”
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 María Cristina Díaz, a 41-year-old janitor. “My mother, my daughter and I were cold. We didn’t sleep a wink.”
Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone service, Rodríguez said. Subway services were suspended and natural gas was shut off, she said. Classes will also be canceled for several days, and the Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters and donation centers.
Families began posting missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones, while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched for loved ones. Venezuelans living abroad struggled to make contact with relatives.
Shortly after United Nations officials in Venezuela called on the government to lift social media restrictions so people can get potentially life-saving information, Venezuelans in the country were able to access X. The site had been blocked by Maduro since August 2024, in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information among those who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential election.
Several governments offered assistance
Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes.
Leaders from Mexico, Qatar, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Canada vowed to send aid. A number of shipments were already on the way Thursday. Aid included emergency and military personnel, canine and search teams, medical supplies, water purifiers, airplanes and drones.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke to Rodríguez following the quake, said the United States was “immediately” deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources other assistance, though he acknowledged the closure of Venezuela’s main airport created logistical challenges.
“We have a whole-of-government response. It’ll be big; it’ll be fast; and it’ll be effective,” Rubio said.
