Venezuela double earthquake kills 1,430, over 50,000 missing; 11-year-old boy and infant pulled alive from ruins

The double quake

On Wednesday 24 June, two powerful earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 hit northern Venezuela seconds apart, flattening entire buildings and causing widespread destruction in coastal La Guaira state and parts of Caracas. The UN estimates that up to 6.76 million people have been affected, with two million in the capital area alone. As of Saturday, 430 aftershocks had been recorded, keeping rescue workers and survivors on edge.

Rescue moments of hope

After more than 70 hours under the rubble, an 11-year-old boy named Moisés was pulled alive in the town of Caraballeda. The Colombian search-and-rescue team USAR COL-1 and firefighters from Bogotá carried out the six-hour operation.

“A few minutes ago, an eleven-year-old boy was rescued in Caraballeda. At this moment, every life is a source of hope for Venezuela.”

In Catia La Mar, rescuers freed an 18-day-old infant from the ruins of the Nautilus building. The Colombian foreign ministry posted video of the boy on a stretcher.

Scenes of desperation and anger

In La Guaira, families gathered around collapsed hotels and apartment blocks, many digging with bare hands. Bárbara Palacios, whose 36-year-old husband Jonathan Suárez is buried under a five-floor hotel, blocked a road with relatives after emergency crews passed without stopping.

“Yes, he is alive.”

Shopkeeper Luis Flores said he and his neighbours had pulled out four survivors, including a small girl, and three bodies. "It is very hard. We are doing all this with our bare hands," he said. A volunteer named Jesús said authorities were not prepared for a disaster of this scale.

International response scales up

By Saturday, 1,600 foreign rescuers had arrived on 17 flights, with 25 more flights expected within 24 hours, according to foreign ministry official Oliver Blanco. Teams from Colombia, Chile, El Salvador, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, France, and the United States are already on the ground; others from Britain, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Jordan, the Netherlands, Qatar, and Spain are mobilising. One runway of Simón Bolívar International Airport in Caracas reopened to receive US C-17 cargo planes carrying humanitarian aid.

Economic toll and lingering threats

The UNDP estimates direct damages at roughly $7 billion, equivalent to about 6% of Venezuela's GDP, though the final cost of reconstruction could be several times higher. Thousands remain without shelter, 3,142 people are officially homeless, and over 70,000 families have received aid. The strongest aftershock, a magnitude-4.8 tremor centred offshore near Aragua at a shallow depth of 10 km, rattled the already weakened structures on Saturday, alarming residents and rescuers alike.