Topline

Two powerful earthquakes struck the northern coast of Venezuela late on Wednesday, just minutes apart, causing several buildings to collapse and prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency amid fears of several casualties.

According to data from the United States Geological Survey, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the country at around 6:04 p.m. local time, with an epicenter about 16 miles from the city of San Felipe.

This was followed by a 7.5 magnitude quake, less than a minute later, around 19 miles away from the same city of about 220,000 residents, USGS data showed.

The country’s acting President, Delcy Rodriguez, declared a state of emergency in a televised address in which she expressed condolences to those “who have unfortunately suffered the loss of a family member.”

Rodriguez, who has been leading the country since Nicholas Maduro was captured by U.S. soldiers in a raid in January, did not provide any details on the number of deaths.

The quakes caused several buildings to collapse, with damage and power outages being reported in the country’s capital, Caracas, which is 200 miles away from the epicenter.