CARACUS, June 26 — Venezuela earthquake — A catastrophic sequence of earthquakes struck Venezuela on the night of June 24, with two tremors of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 occurring within less than a minute of each other near the town of Montalbán, triggering widespread building collapses in the capital Caracas and prompting fears of a death toll that could ultimately exceed tens of thousands of people.
The Venezuela earthquake sequence began at 22:04 GMT on June 24, when the first tremor of magnitude 7.2 shook the region at a depth of approximately 10 kilometres. Seconds later, the second and more powerful quake struck at the same shallow depth, with its epicentre recorded at 10.40 degrees north latitude and 68.32 degrees west longitude. The near-simultaneous occurrence of two major earthquakes gave residents virtually no time to respond between the two impacts, severely limiting any chance of evacuation before buildings had already begun to collapse.
Structural damage in Caracas was extensive and widespread. The San Bernardino district of the capital was among the hardest hit, with multiple buildings reduced to rubble and rescue teams working tirelessly to locate survivors trapped beneath the debris. The Simón Bolívar International Airport near Caracas also sustained damage to its facilities, complicating the logistics of incoming relief flights. The adjacent state of La Guaira similarly reported large-scale structural collapses across multiple communities.
Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, declared a national state of emergency in the hours following the disaster, invoking constitutional powers to mobilise state resources and coordinate relief efforts. Schools were shut nationwide and non-essential public activities suspended. She expressed deep condolences to the bereaved and urged the population to remain calm and stand together through the crisis.
Venezuelan authorities confirmed 164 deaths and 971 injuries in the most recent official update, but the USGS red alert assessment painted a far grimmer picture. The agency estimated that the true death toll was likely to fall between 10,000 and 100,000, a range that placed the Venezuela earthquake among the most potentially deadly natural disasters in recent South American history. Economic damage was projected to be equivalent to between two and 20 percent of the country’s annual GDP.
Neighbouring Colombia reported feeling strong tremors from the Venezuela earthquake, and the country’s geological monitoring agency activated its emergency protocols. A tsunami warning issued by the US tsunami alert system for coastal areas within 300 kilometres of the epicentre caused mass evacuations along Venezuela’s northern coastline, though the sea-level impact was ultimately less severe than feared.
