PEOPLE SEARCHED FOR survivors beneath collapsed buildings in Venezuela and rescue teams raced to northern areas rocked by a pair of powerful earthquakes that officials say killed at least 235 people and left more than 200 trapped.
Many more were feared dead.
The 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck on Wednesday evening were among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and were felt throughout the region.
Some 4,300 people were injured and thousands were reported missing across the country.
“Unfortunately, we have received around 235 patients who arrive without vital signs or die when they arrive at our health facilities,” health minister Carlos Alvarado told state media on Thursday.
The coastal region of La Guaira, which is north of the capital, Caracas, experienced some of the heaviest damage and casualties, officials said.
Buildings were evacuated as far away as Brazil’s Amazon, about 1,700 kilometres from Caracas, where the country’s main airport was damaged and closed.
In cities across northern Venezuela, panicked residents poured into the streets and many walked among the debris searching for the missing.
Television broadcasts showed rescue workers using power tools to get through piles of rubble.
In La Guaira, retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendano climbed through wreckage and past a dead body when he spotted a woman who was trapped and signalling with her hand for help.
“God, let them rescue her as quickly as possible,” said Mendano.
“When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.”
At another damaged apartment complex, residents shouted the names of missing people: “Mirna! Marquitos!”
Offers of help poured in from around the world, including from the US, which seized Venezuela’s then-president Nicolas Maduro at the beginning of the year in a surprise military operation.
The natural disaster poses a major 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.
The president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, gave updated figures on Thursday for the numbers of dead, trapped and injured in the quakes.
Delcy Rodriguez said authorities were shifting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which she described as a “disaster zone”.
“Dozens of buildings have collapsed there… and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” Rodriguez said.
Footage on state TV showed three children, covered in dust but alive, pulled from the rubble in La Guaira.
Rodriguez 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 help.
“We’re here for the families, and we extend our solidarity to them. We hope to rescue as many living people as possible,” said Rodriguez, who referred to La Guaira as a “disaster zone”.
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 US Geological Survey (USGS) said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, hit west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometres west of Caracas. It had a depth of 22 kilometres.
Just a minute later, USGS reported a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake, with a depth of 10 kilometres and an epicentre 16 kilometres south-west of Moron.
Officials urged people to remain outside as aftershocks could cause further damage. During the quakes, people ran from swaying buildings.
Many were stunned on 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 eight-year-old son was missing.
“I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said.
Delgado asked where the heavy machinery was that government officials had promised, pointing out that neighbours were the ones digging through the rubble.
Authorities warned people against returning to homes with structural damage.
In central Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, car parks 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 mobile 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.
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.
Rodriguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late on Wednesday.
She said the government was creating a $200 million (€176.34 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.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who had spoken to Rodriguez following the quake, said the US is “immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela”.
“We will have a whole government response,” Rubio said on Thursday in Bahrain, noting they were facing logistical obstacles with Caracas’ airport collapsed.
“It will be big. It will be fast. It will be effective.”