Megan Janetsky, Andry Rincon and Juan Pablo Arraez
Updated ,first published
La Guaira: In cities across northern Venezuela, neighbours helped each other dig through rubble to search for loved ones on Thursday after back-to-back earthquakes that officials say killed more than 230 people and left thousands injured the night before.
The official death toll rose to around 235 late on Thursday (Caracas time), with at least 4300 people injured, Venezuela Health Minister Carlos Alvarado told state media. The number of casualties is expected to climb, with thousands reported missing and frantic rescue efforts continuing.
The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck on Wednesday evening were among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and were felt throughout the region.
The injured, among them children and animals, were pulled from beneath debris covered in dust and blood. Venezuelan state TV showed dramatic images of rescues, including a woman who was trapped under a cement slab with only a bare foot poking out before rescuers slid her out alive. But few government search teams were initially seen outside Caracas.
The coastal region of La Guaira, north of the capital Caracas, suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties. The country’s main airport is there and was closed due to damage, complicating aid efforts.
Many were stunned on Thursday morning as they saw buildings reduced to skeletons, furniture hanging out of windows and helicopters circling overhead. Buildings were flattened and streets cracked open.
Families posted missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched. Venezuelans abroad struggled to make contact with relatives due to interrupted phone service in the country.
In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots and other open spaces.
Mother of three Dayana Delgado asked where the heavy machinery was that government officials had promised and said residents were the ones digging through crumpled buildings.
“I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said of her missing eight-year-old son.
One mother sobbed and collapsed in grief as the bodies of her three- and 10-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and carried away. Others screamed the names of the missing. Some stood in silent shock.
Venezuelan authorities said they were diverting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which is no stranger to natural disasters: a 1999 mudslide killed thousands and is considered one of the country’s worst natural disasters.
In La Guaira, Cristian Carreño stared at his charred apartment building tilting precariously 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 Mendaño climbed through wreckage in La Guaira and past a dead body when he spotted a woman who was trapped and signalling with her hand for help.
“May God rescue her as quickly as possible,” Mendaño said. “When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.”
The natural disaster is the latest challenge for Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the capture and removal from power of then-president Nicolás Maduro by the United States. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents.
Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late on Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $US200 million ($290 million) reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes.
She appealed to businesses on Thursday to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations.
“We hope to rescue as many living people as possible,” Rodríguez said.
While Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.
The US Geological Survey said both earthquakes were centred near Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometres west of Caracas.
The one-two punch of the quakes, combined with the shallow seismic movements, amplified the destruction, said Marcos Ferreira, a geophysicist and researcher at the Geological Survey of Brazil.
“It is as if I am screaming and then someone starts screaming, too. That amplifies the vibration and adds to the potential hazard,” Ferreira said.
Shortly after United Nations officials in Venezuela called on the government to lift social media restrictions so people could get potentially life-saving information, Venezuelans in the country were able to access X. The site had been blocked by Maduro since August 2024 in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information among those who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential election.
Leaders from Mexico, Qatar, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Canada vowed to send aid. A number of shipments were already on the way on Thursday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke to Rodríguez following the quake, said the US was immediately deploying assistance, though he acknowledged the closure of Venezuela’s main airport created logistical challenges.
“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 arrived in 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.
The Venezuelan diaspora was also helping. In Ecuador, Félix Rodríguez said his store was receiving donations from his fellow Venezuelans as well as Ecuadorians.
“My business is always ready for whatever Venezuela needs,” he said.
Gabby Graham said she regularly sent money from Spokane, Washington, to Venezuela using a peer-to-peer payment to a local business that gave cash to her family. But since the earthquakes, they could not locate the business owner, and she was unable to share funds for food, water, medication and toiletries.
“I think it hasn’t been easy for them for years. Just now it’s just even worse because it’s about finding these things,” Graham said.
