In cities across northern Venezuela, neighbors helped each other dig through rubble to search for loved ones on Thursday after back-to-back earthquakes that officials said killed more than 230 people and left thousands injured the night before. The official death toll rose to around 235 late Thursday, with at least 4,300 people injured, Venezuela Health Minister Carlos Alvarado told state media. The number of casualties was expected to climb with thousands reported missing and rescue efforts continuing.
Who Was Left to Dig
The first response came from ordinary people, not the machinery of the state. In city after city, neighbors dug through crumpled buildings looking for family members while government search teams were initially seen only sparsely outside Caracas. Mother of three Dayana Delgado asked where the heavy machinery was that government officials had promised and said residents were the ones digging through the wreckage. “I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said of her missing 8-year-old son.
The injured were pulled out covered in dust and blood, among them children and animals. Venezuelan state TV showed rescues, including a woman who was trapped under a cement slab with only a bare foot poking out before rescuers slid her out alive. In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots and other open spaces while families posted missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones and others shared handwritten lists of names.
One mother sobbed and collapsed in grief as the bodies of her 3- and 10-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and carried away. Others screamed the names of the missing. Some stood in silent shock.
Damage, Delay, and the Cost Below
The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday evening were among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and were felt throughout the region. 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 people were stunned 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. 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 signaling 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.”
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.
What the Apparatus Promised
The natural disaster was 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 Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes. She appealed to businesses Thursday to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations. “We hope to rescue as many living people as possible,” Rodríguez 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.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke to Rodríguez following the quake, said the United States was immediately deploying assistance. “We have a whole-of-government response. It’ll be big; it’ll be fast; and it’ll be effective,” Rubio said, while acknowledging the closure of Venezuela’s main airport near Caracas created logistical challenges.
Aid, Borders, and the People Holding It Together
Venezuelan public television showed the arrival of rescue workers and aid from Chile at a military base in Aragua state early Friday, while a team of 80 specialists and eight search dogs from Switzerland also arrived with aid supplies. Turkey announced two flights would leave Istanbul on Friday with military, medical and rescue personnel and a pair of search dogs. Leaders from Qatar, Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Canada also vowed to send assistance. Rescue teams from El Salvador and the Dominican Republic arrived in Venezuela on Thursday, along with rescuers and material aid from Mexico.
“No country is prepared to provide the response that’s needed. That’s what neighboring countries are there for,” Dominican Air Force Major Carlos Olivares said.
The Venezuelan diaspora also was 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 sends money from Spokane, Washington, to Venezuela using a peer-to-peer payment to a local business that gives cash to her family. But since the earthquakes they can’t locate the business owner and she is 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.
The U.S. Geological Survey said both earthquakes were centered near Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) 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.