At least 188 dead, 157 missing after rare double earthquake hits Venezuela
A pair of powerful earthquakes struck northern Venezuela on 24 June, killing at least 188 people, injuring over 1,500 and leaving 157 missing. International rescue teams are mobilising as the official death toll is expected to rise.
The quakes
On Wednesday 24 June at 18:04 local time (22:04 GMT), a magnitude 7.2 earthquake shook northern Venezuela. Only 39 seconds later, a stronger 7.5 quake struck roughly 45 km away, according to the US Geological Survey. The back‑to‑back jolts gave residents the impression of one unending tremor. "C'est ce qui fait que les personnes exposées aux secousses ont eu l'impression d'un seul tremblement de terre qui aurait duré très longtemps," said Thomas Lecocq, a seismologist at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, describing why the double event felt so punishing.
- Magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes at a depth of 21.9 km, about 200 km west of Caracas.
- Magnitude 7.5 earthquake hits 45 km from the first epicentre, at 10 km depth.
- Interim President Delcy Rodríguez reports 164 dead, nearly 1,000 injured and declares a national state of emergency.
- Parliament President Jorge Rodríguez updates the toll to 188 dead, 1,520 injured and 157 missing.
Casualties and rescue
By Thursday 25 June, Parliament President Jorge Rodríguez put the official toll at 188 dead, 1,520 injured and 157 missing. That revised an earlier count of 164 dead and about 1,000 injured given by his sister Delcy Rodríguez, the interim president. The USGS warned that the toll could reach between 10,000 and 100,000, though those figures have not been confirmed locally. One early report cited as many as 30,000 disappeared. In Caracas and the coastal state of La Guaira, rescue teams worked through rubble where families searched for loved ones.
We have nothing left. Nothing, not even the strength or courage to go in there.
We need people to come help. There is a little girl here who has been trapped since last night, we can get her out, we need a digger.
Strained health system
Hospitals were quickly overwhelmed. Doctor Rafael Arreaza told RFI that chronic shortages and power cuts hampered emergency surgeries. "There is nothing in the hospitals," he said. "They arrive at the hospital, but it doesn't have the means to operate immediately because of power cuts, for example. Yesterday we were left without electricity for six hours." Interim president Delcy Rodríguez declared a nationwide state of emergency about three hours after the quakes. The international airport at Maiquetia was closed due to structural damage, complicating the arrival of outside help.
International response
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called the disaster a situation requiring a "massive collective effort". U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised a "significant, rapid and effective" response, with Washington pledging $150 million in aid and deploying rescue teams. China, India, Iran, European Union members and several Latin American nations also offered search teams and medical supplies. The Spanish NGO Firefighters Without Borders reported that its team of 13 people and three dogs was ready to deploy but was blocked by flight suspensions.
Why a doublet matters
The two quakes occurred along the boundary where the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates slide past each other. Seismologists called the event a rare "doublet", two large shocks of nearly equal magnitude in rapid succession on different segments of the same fault, rather than a main shock with smaller aftershocks. The last major earthquake in the area was in 1900. The combination of shallow depths (21.9 km and 10 km), proximity to Caracas, and a weakened health‑system backdrop made the damage especially severe.
