Venezuela earthquakes kill 235 as La Guaira rescue effort intensifies

Twin earthquakes struck northern Venezuela, devastating La Guaira and surrounding cities. The disaster has triggered a widening rescue effort amid airport damage, outages and rising fear.

In Short

• La Guaira suffered severe damage, shutting the main airport and delaying relief
• Residents led early searches as limited official teams appeared outside Caracas
• Families posted missing notices while phone outages cut contact with relatives

Neighbours in cities across northern Venezuela spent Thursday digging through rubble for loved ones after two powerful earthquakes struck on Wednesday evening, killing around 235 people, injuring at least 4,300 and leaving thousands missing, officials said. The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes were among the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century and were felt across the region.

The coastal region of La Guaira, north of Caracas, was among the worst hit, with heavy damage and a high number of casualties. The country’s main airport, located there, was shut because of damage, making relief work harder. Acting President Delcy Rodrguez declared a state of emergency, while several countries pledged aid and rescue teams began arriving.

Across the affected areas, residents helped each other search collapsed buildings as rescue efforts continued. Injured people, including children and animals, were pulled out covered in dust and blood. Venezuelan state television showed rescue images, including a woman trapped under a cement slab with only one bare foot visible before rescuers pulled her out alive. But outside Caracas, few government search teams were initially seen.

By Thursday morning, many people were looking at buildings reduced to shells, furniture hanging from windows and helicopters flying overhead. Streets had cracked open and several buildings had collapsed. Families put up missing-person notices with photographs, while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched. Venezuelans living abroad struggled to contact relatives because phone services were disrupted. In central Caracas, hundreds spent the night in parks, car parks and other open spaces.

Dayana Delgado, a mother of three, asked where the heavy machinery promised by officials was, saying residents themselves were digging through damaged buildings. ‘I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,’ she said about her missing eight-year-old son. Elsewhere, one mother broke down as the bodies of her three-year-old and 10-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and carried away, while others shouted the names of missing relatives or stood in shock.

Authorities said rescue teams from other parts of the country were being sent to La Guaira, which had already suffered one of Venezuela’s worst natural disasters when a mudslide killed thousands there in 1999. Cristian Carreo stood looking at his charred apartment building, leaning sharply to one side. ‘I lost everything,’ he said. ‘There are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn’t get out. It’s incredibly devastating.’ Retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendao climbed through wreckage and passed a dead body before seeing a trapped woman signalling with her hand. ‘May God rescue her as quickly as possible,’ he said. ‘When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.’

The disaster is the latest challenge for Rodrguez, the former vice president who took office in January after Maduro’s capture. Venezuela has faced economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement she represents. In a late-night address on Wednesday, Rodrguez announced a USD 200 million reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes and appealed to businesses to provide heavy construction equipment for rescue work. ‘We hope to rescue as many living people as possible,’ she said.

Venezuela lies near several fault lines, but strong earthquakes are less common there than in other parts of Latin America because of its position between the South American and Caribbean plates. The US Geological Survey said both tremors were centred near Morón on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometres west of Caracas. Marcos Ferreira, a geophysicist and researcher at the Geological Survey of Brazil, said the pair of shallow quakes increased the destruction. ‘It is as if I am screaming and then someone starts screaming, too. That amplifies the vibration and adds to the potential hazard,’ he said.

Shortly after United Nations officials in Venezuela urged the government to lift social media restrictions so people could receive potentially life-saving information, users in the country were able to access X. The platform had been blocked by Maduro since August 2024 in an effort to curb the flow of information among people who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential election.

Mexico, Qatar, Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Canada all pledged assistance, and some shipments were already on the way by Thursday. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke to Rodrguez after the quake, said the United States was sending help despite the closure of Venezuela’s main airport. ‘We have a whole-of-government response. It’ll be big; it’ll be fast; and it’ll be effective,’ Rubio said. Rescue teams from Mexico, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic reached Venezuela on Thursday, along with an aid flight from Mexico. ‘No country is prepared to provide the response that’s needed. That’s what neighbouring countries are there for,’ Dominican Air Force Major Carlos Olivares said.

Venezuelans living abroad also joined the relief effort. In Ecuador, Flix Rodrguez said his shop was taking donations from fellow Venezuelans as well as Ecuadorians. ‘My business is always ready for whatever Venezuela needs,’ he said, adding that he wished Venezuelans ‘faith and fortitude’. With rescue work still under way, the death toll expected to rise and aid beginning to arrive, Venezuela was facing a widening humanitarian response after one of its strongest earthquakes in more than a century.

With PTI Inputs

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