La Guaira (Venezuela): The death toll from two powerful earthquakes in Venezuela rose to 589, with 2,980 injured, acting President Delcy Rodríguez said early Friday.She made the announced surrounded by government and military officials as she welcomed the arrival of rescue crews from all over the world.
“We are going to rescue the people who are trapped,” she said. “We are working tirelessly on this task.”
She said the state of La Guaira has been hardest hit by the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday evening, noting that it has been militarized as crews search for survivors and distribute food and water.
The quakes were among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and were felt across the region.
Thousands were reported missing, and buildings were evacuated as far away as Brazil's Amazon region.
In response to the devastation, the US Treasury on Thursday moved to waive some sanctions until October 23 to allow transactions related to earthquake relief efforts in Venezuela that would otherwise be prohibited.
Meanwhile, in cities across northern Venezuela, panicked residents poured into the streets and searched the debris for the missing.
The injured were pulled from the rubble, covered in dust and blood, including children and animals. Venezuelan state TV showed dramatic images of rescues, including a woman trapped beneath a cement slab, with only her bare foot visible before crews managed to pull her out alive. However, few government search teams were seen outside Caracas.
Dayana Delgado, the mother of three children, asked where the heavy machinery was that government officials had promised, pointing out that neighbours were the ones digging through the rubble.
"I want to know where my child is, if he's trapped or in a shelter," she said of her eight-year-old son, who remains missing.
One mother sobbed and collapsed in grief as the bodies of her three- and ten-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and carried away. Others screamed the names of missing loved ones, while some stood in silent shock.
The coastal region of La Guaira, north of the capital Caracas, suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties. The country's main airport, located there, was closed due to damage, complicating relief efforts.
Retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendaño climbed through the wreckage in La Guaira and past a dead body when he spotted a woman trapped beneath debris, signalling for help with her hand.
"May God rescue her as quickly as possible," said Mendaño. "When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do."
Offers to send aid and supplies poured in from around the world, including from the United States, which seized Venezuela's then-president Nicolás Maduro at the beginning of the year in a surprise military operation.
The natural disaster is just the latest challenge for acting President Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after Maduro's capture. Venezuela has been facing economic turmoil for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents.
Rescue teams head to heavily damaged coastal region
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 there, considered one of the country's worst natural disasters, killed thousands.
Rodríguez appealed to businesses on Thursday to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations.
"We hope to rescue as many people alive as possible," said Rodríguez, who described La Guaira as a "disaster zone."
She said the first rescuers from the Dominican Republic were about to land, and more teams from other countries were expected to arrive in the coming hours.
While Venezuela lies near multiple fault lines, its position along the boundary of the South American and Caribbean tectonic plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.
The US Geological Survey said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, struck west of Morón on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometres west of Caracas, at a depth of 22 kilometres. Just a minute later, the USGS reported a second earthquake measuring 7.5 in magnitude, with a depth of 10 kilometres and an epicentre 16 kilometres southwest of Morón.
The one-two punch of the quakes, combined with their shallow depth, 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 else starts screaming too. That amplifies the vibration and adds to the potential hazard," Ferreira said.
Venezuelans reel from twin quakes
During the earthquakes, people fled swaying buildings. Many were stunned on Thursday morning as they saw buildings reduced to skeletons, furniture hanging from windows, and helicopters circling overhead.
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, who couldn't get out. It's incredibly devastating."
In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots, and other open spaces.
"We were afraid the buildings would collapse on us," said María Cristina Díaz, a 41-year-old janitor. "My mother, my daughter and I were cold. We didn't sleep a wink."
Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone service, Rodríguez said. Subway services were suspended, and natural gas supplies were shut off. Classes will also remain suspended for several days, and the Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters and donation centres.
Families began posting missing-person flyers with photographs of loved ones, while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched for relatives. Venezuelans living abroad also struggled to contact their families.
Shortly after United Nations officials in Venezuela called on the government to lift social media restrictions so people could access potentially life-saving information, users in the country regained access to X. The platform 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.
State of emergency declared; nations offer aid
Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes.
Leaders from Mexico, Qatar, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, and Canada pledged to send aid. Several shipments were already on their way on Thursday, including emergency and military personnel, canine search teams, medical supplies, water purification units, aircraft, and drones.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke to Rodríguez following the earthquakes, said the United States was "immediately" deploying search-and-rescue teams, medical resources, and other assistance, although he acknowledged that the closure of Venezuela's main airport posed logistical challenges.
"We have a whole-of-government response. It'll be big; it'll be fast; and it'll be effective," Rubio said.
