Venezuela earthquakes kill at least 920 as rare seismic doublet devastates coastal towns
On June 24, a magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook northwestern Venezuela, followed 39 seconds later by a magnitude-7.5 tremor. The rare doublet struck a country already reeling from economic collapse and political upheaval.
The quakes
On June 24, a rare seismic doublet struck northwestern Venezuela. A magnitude-7.2 earthquake was followed 39 seconds later by a magnitude-7.5 tremor, both at a shallow depth of 10 to 20 kilometers. The epicenters were in Yaracuy state, but shaking was felt as far away as Colombia, northern Brazil, and Caribbean islands including Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao.
We thought it was a tremor; then it started shaking much more violently. The walls were cracking, and pieces of the ceiling were falling. We thought it was going to collapse on top of us.
Human toll and rescue efforts
Provisional figures put the death toll at 920, with 3,360 injured, but officials warn the numbers will rise. Tens of thousands remain missing. In Catia La Mar, a densely populated beach town in La Guaira state, at least 100 buildings collapsed. Ten-storey apartment blocks, constructed of brittle concrete inadequately reinforced by steel, collapsed floor by floor. International rescue teams have arrived from the region and beyond, though blocked roads hamper access to the hardest-hit areas.
A fragile economy crumbles further
The disaster struck a country already in an extreme economic crisis. Venezuela has seen the deepest drop in GDP per capita anywhere in the world since 2013, and acting president Delcy Rodríguez was planning to negotiate a restructuring of a $240 billion debt pile. The health system, power grid, and water supply were already under strain from years of neglect.
This is a country that already had enormous needs of reconstruction. Now, on top of that, they have to rebuild without immediate access to resources.
Citizens fill the gaps with solidarity
In the aftermath, thousands of Venezuelans rushed to help. Jesús Pacheco, an electronics student, loaded medical supplies onto his motorcycle and rode five hours from Barquisimeto to Caracas, joining convoys of trucks carrying water, food, and clothing. Volunteers dug through rubble with shovels and bare hands, and churches became donation centers.
In our case, volunteering is something to be written in capital letters. It is truly, in its very essence, about giving everything we have with the sole premise of helping and contributing a grain of sand to help society.
Geopolitical pressure on a US-backed government
The quakes come nearly six months after US special forces abducted then-president Nicolás Maduro in a nighttime raid, installing his former deputy Delcy Rodríguez as acting president under strict US supervision. The Trump administration had effectively taken control of Venezuela's oil industry, presenting the country as a success story of economic revival. Now, the disaster tests the capacity of the US-backed government to respond, adding to pressure on Washington to lead aid efforts.
