Rescue teams rushed to areas hit hardest by a pair of powerful earthquakes that rocked Venezuela, killing at least 164 people, injuring nearly 1,000 and trapping many under the rubble. Mariangel Rincon is from Caracas. She’s been checking in on family and friends in Venezuela while she studies abroad in Spain. Rincon was part of a U.S. State Department delegation that Alabama Public Radio addressed on the subject of human trafficking and investigating case of human rights violations.
“Thank you for checking in,” Rincon told APR news. “Fortunately, my family and close friends are safe. From what I’m hearing, the damage appears to be extensive, especially in La Guaira. There are also many people reported missing. So far, authorities have confirmed 137 fatalities and around 1,000 injuries, although those numbers may continue to change as rescue and recovery efforts continue.
Wednesday evening’s 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes were among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century and could be felt throughout the region. The country's main airport was damaged and closed, while buildings were evacuated in places as far away as Brazil’s Amazon, about 1,700 kilometers from Rincon’s hometown in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.
Rincon was included in the U.S. State Department delegation through an initiative called the International Visitor Leadership Program. She reports the the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons, which issues reports on how inmates are treated in that South American nation. Rincon’s results have been consistently quoted by the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights.
On the subject of the two Venezuelan earthquakes, Rincon says “The most difficult situation seems to be in La Guaira, a coastal area located about 30–40 minutes from Caracas. Many families have lost their homes, and there are still numerous people reported missing.”
Television broadcasts Thursday showed rescue workers using power tools to work their way into piles of rubble where buildings once stood. Panicked residents of the capital were sent pouring into the streets, and after the quakes many people walked among the debris searching for the missing among collapsed buildings and toppled electric poles.
Footage on state TV showed three children, covered in dust but alive, pulled from the rubble in La Guaira state, which Rodríguez described as a “disaster zone” and one of the areas hardest hit by the quakes because of the large number of collapsed buildings.
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who gave the latest death toll early Thursday, said authorities were shifting 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 the daylight hours to speed up efforts to rescue people believed to remain trapped under the rubble, she said.
“Dozens of buildings have collapsed there ... and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” Rodríguez said.
Video shared online appeared to show dozens of people, some lying on the ground and others on hospital beds, being treated outside a hospital in La Guaira.
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.
Rodríguez appealed to businesses to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations, adding that search and rescue teams certified by the United Nations were on their way to Venezuela.
During the quakes, people ran from swaying buildings in Caracas, many visibly shocked when they turned back to see destroyed walls that left furniture visible from the street. Columns of dust rose in two typically busy neighborhoods in the capital.
“It started off gently and then gradually grew, and in the end, we all had to leave our houses, go outside and gather together,” Caracas resident Hector Ricci said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, hit west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 105 miles west of Caracas. It had a depth of 14 miles. Just a minute later, USGS reported a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake just a minute later, with a depth of 6 miles and an epicenter 10 miles southwest of Moron.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello urged people to remain outside as aftershocks could further damage structures, and many people stayed on the streets for hours, some sitting on the ground hugging pets as dust gathered around them. In downtown Caracas, hundreds of people spent the night huddled around parks, parking lots and other open spaces. Authorities warned against returning to homes with structural damage.
“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; but I didn’t want to spend the night alone at home after that terrible earthquake.”
“It was awful. We cried, we screamed. Thankfully, we’re alive,” she added.
Díaz and her family rushed to Plaza Candelaria in downtown Caracas because it’s one of the few open areas near her home.
Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone coverage, and the earthquakes damaged and closed Simón Bolívar International Airport, the country’s main airport, Rodríguez said.
In Caracas, subway services were suspended and natural gas 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.
On Thursday morning scores of people battled with lack of cellphone signal in parts of Venezuela as they took to social media to track down missing family members.
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 hospitals and homes damaged by the earthquakes, and had instructed the economy and finance ministers to oversee the effort.
Offers of help poured in from countries around the world.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States is “immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela.”
“We will have a whole of government response,” Rubio said Thursday in Bahrain. “It will be big. It will be fast. It will be effective.”
He added that one of the runways at Caracas’ international airport was cracked in the earthquake, making landing aircraft there difficult.
Rodríguez — who became acting president after an American military operation captured her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and brought him to the U.S. to stand trial — thanked U.S. President Donald Trump. She said in an X post later that she spoke with Rubio by phone without sharing details. She also expressed thanks to the leaders of various nations who have sent messages of support and offers of help.
Ecuador ordered the delivery of humanitarian aid, and Rodríguez said Qatar, Mexico and El Salvador had already sent rescue personnel.
“We send you all our solidarity and our prayers. Stay strong, Venezuela,” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, once diametrically opposed to Venezuela’s government, wrote in a post on X.
