Venezuela was struck by two devastating back-to-back earthquakes on the evening of Wednesday, June 24, leaving at least 32 people dead and more than 700 injured across multiple states. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared a state of emergency late Wednesday, warning the toll was expected to climb significantly as rescue teams worked through the night to reach collapsed structures and cut-off communities. The figures released early Thursday did not yet include casualties from the coastal state of La Guaira, which Rodríguez described as a disaster zone and the hardest-hit area. The quakes struck on a national holiday marking Venezuela’s 1821 war of independence, meaning many families were at home when the tremors hit.
The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the first earthquake at magnitude 7.2, centered east-northeast of San Felipe in Yaracuy state at a depth of around 22 km, just after 6:04 p.m. local time. Just 39 seconds later, a larger M7.5 mainshock struck approximately 23 km southeast of the town of Yumare, also in Yaracuy state. The USGS classified the sequence as a classic earthquake doublet, a rare pairing where an initial large event is immediately followed by an even stronger one. The USGS issued two separate red alerts through its PAGER system, warning of probable high casualties and extensive damage, and noted that most structures in the region are vulnerable to this level of shaking. Predictive modelling placed the most likely death toll in the thousands, with a 44 percent probability of exceeding 10,000.
The shaking was felt across the region: buildings were evacuated in Manaus, Belém, and Macapá in Brazil’s Amazon, some 1,700 km away, and tremors reached Colombia’s Caribbean and northeast regions. Tsunami advisories were briefly issued for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands before being lifted.
Otra mirada del terremoto en la Guaira desde la playa 🚨🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/N5qt6oLGm8
— TeamTrumpVzla🫓 🇻🇪🗽🇺🇸 (@javie1917516) June 24, 2026
La Guaira, on Venezuela’s northern coast 30 km from Caracas, bore the worst of the destruction. Rodríguez confirmed that dozens of buildings collapsed there, with up to 15 structures down according to Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s national assembly. Among the most dramatic losses was Hotel Eduard in the city of Macuto, an eight-floor, 106-room waterfront property that was almost entirely reduced to rubble, with only its entrance still standing. In the nearby town of Catia La Mar, videos verified by CNN showed several collapsed buildings and badly damaged high-rises lining the waterfront. Intensive rescue operations were underway throughout the night.
Edificio Oasis, Playa grande
— Alerta Mundial (@TuiteroSismico) June 25, 2026
La Guaira, Venezuela
Totalmente colapsado !
Tremendo como se oyen los gritos!! pic.twitter.com/pY8pSy2SPr
Caracas
In the capital, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello singled out the Altamira neighborhood as facing particularly alarming conditions, with a fully destroyed 22-story building where volunteers and emergency crews climbed over rubble calling out the names of missing residents. Rescue teams also responded to collapsed structures in the districts of San Bernardino, Pinto Salinas, El Paraíso, Chacao, and Baruta. In Chacao alone, Mayor Gustavo Duque Saez confirmed at least two buildings completely destroyed and others with structurally compromised frames.
Residents poured out of swaying apartment blocks as walls gave way, exposing furniture to the open air. Fire trucks moved through debris-choked streets. At Caracas’ Hospital de Clinicas, staff were called in for double shifts to treat the injured, while ceiling panels hung loose and plaster littered the hospital floors. Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone signal, deepening the anguish of the more than 7.7 million Venezuelans living abroad who could not reach family. Activists and opposition figures called on telecoms regulator CONATEL to lift its ongoing block on X, VPN services, and independent news outlets, saying the restrictions were preventing people from checking on loved ones.
📍#Caracas | Usuarios reportan fuerte percepción del sismo en el Sambil de Chacao durante el movimiento telúrico de hoy.
— freddyzur (@freddyzur) June 25, 2026
El centro comercial fue evacuado de manera preventiva mientras se sentía la sacudida en la zona del este de la ciudad. Hasta el momento no hay reportes… pic.twitter.com/tqw8mFTbcf
“There was a cloud of smoke that wouldn’t let us see. And when we went downstairs, the scene was like a horror movie. We had to climb over the rubble and everything.” – Maria Alejandra, Caracas resident
An 80-year-old pensioner in southern Caracas, Maria Romero, told Reuters the quakes were worse than the deadly M6.3 earthquake that struck the city in 1967. People remained on the streets through the night, many sitting on pavements embracing pets, too afraid to re-enter buildings as more than 20 aftershocks followed the initial strikes. In the state of Falcon, some 200 km northwest of Caracas, 32 people were hospitalized and 15 remained trapped more than four hours after the event.
Earthquake engineering experts pointed to the age of Venezuela’s building stock as a key factor. Kenneth O’Dell of MHP Structural Engineers told CNN that many of the worst-affected structures were likely built before the 1970s under older, less stringent codes. Geophysicist Vashan Wright at the University of California, San Diego, added that Caracas sits in a deep sedimentary basin that amplifies seismic waves, compounding the destructive effect. Venezuela’s position along the Boconó-Morón-El Pilar Fault System, a 1,300 km chain of right-lateral strike-slip faults straddling the South American and Caribbean plates, makes the country seismically active but rarely struck by events of this scale. About 80 percent of Venezuela’s population lives in seismic zones.
Me han pasado este vídeo del Aeropuerto de Maiquetia. dios mío… pic.twitter.com/sSH0yboQVP
— Said Rahal (@srahalh) June 24, 2026
Simón Bolívar International Airport, Venezuela’s main hub near Caracas, sustained enough damage to be closed. Metro and rail services were suspended nationwide until further notice. School classes were canceled for the rest of the week, with some buildings converted into shelters and donation centers. The Venezuelan Red Cross, though it reported critical damage to its own national headquarters, activated emergency protocols and began search and rescue operations, with volunteers responding directly from their own affected neighborhoods. The most pressing anticipated needs, the organization said, are emergency shelter, trauma care, psychosocial support, safe water, and essential household items.
Aid mobilized rapidly from across the hemisphere. The United States announced the immediate deployment of search-and-rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirming he had spoken directly with Rodríguez. Undersecretary Jeremy Lewin activated a disaster assistance task force in coordination with Venezuela’s interim government. Rescue teams from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, and Qatar were expected to arrive within hours. China, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Panama, Uruguay, and several Caribbean nations also pledged support or humanitarian aid. The swift U.S. response reflects a significant diplomatic shift: Washington has maintained close ties with Venezuela’s interim government since the January military intervention that removed President Nicolás Maduro from power.
A rare and historic event
Strong earthquakes are uncommon in Venezuela. While the country straddles the boundary of the South American and Caribbean tectonic plates along a complex fault system, its position away from the Pacific Ring of Fire, which accounts for roughly 90 percent of global seismic activity, means major events are infrequent. Wednesday’s twin quakes are considered among the most powerful to strike Venezuela in over a century, surpassing in back-to-back intensity even the 1967 Caracas earthquake that killed hundreds.
