At least 164 dead and 971 injured after powerful quakes rock Venezuela, acting president says

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Powerful earthquake strikes Venezuela, killing at least 164 people

7.1-magnitude earthquake hits Venezuela, destroys buildings and houses

CARACAS, Venezuela — Rescue teams rushed Thursday to areas hit hardest by a pair of powerful earthquakes that rocked Venezuela, killing at least 164 people, injuring nearly 1,000 and trapping many under the rubble.

Wednesday evening’s 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes were among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century and could be felt throughout the region. The country’s main airport was damaged and closed, while buildings were evacuated in places as far away as Brazil’s Amazon, about 1,700 kilometres (1,050 miles) from Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.

Television broadcasts Thursday showed rescue workers using power tools to work their way into piles of rubble where buildings once stood. Panicked residents of the capital were sent pouring into the streets, and after the quakes many people walked among the debris searching for the missing among collapsed buildings and toppled electric poles.

Footage on state TV showed three children, covered in dust but alive, pulled from the rubble in La Guaira state, which Rodriguez described as a “disaster zone” and one of the areas hardest hit by the quakes because of the large number of collapsed buildings.

Acting president Delcy Rodriguez, who gave the latest death toll early Thursday, said authorities were shifting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which sits north of Caracas on the coast. Officials were trying to make the most of the daylight hours to speed up efforts to rescue people believed to remain trapped under the rubble, she said.

“Dozens of buildings have collapsed there ... and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” Rodriguez said.

Video shared online appeared to show dozens of people, some lying on the ground and others on hospital beds, being treated outside a hospital in La Guaira.

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.

Rodriguez appealed to businesses to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations, adding that search and rescue teams certified by the United Nations were on their way to Venezuela.

Caracas residents reeling from two strong quakes

During the quakes, people ran from swaying buildings in Caracas, many visibly shocked when they turned back to see destroyed walls that left furniture visible from the street. Columns of dust rose in two typically busy neighbourhoods in the capital.

“It started off gently and then gradually grew, and in the end, we all had to leave our houses, go outside and gather together,” Caracas resident Hector Ricci said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, hit west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometres (105 miles) west of Caracas. It had a depth of 22 kilometres (about 14 miles). Just a minute later, USGS reported a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake just a minute later, with a depth of 10 kilometres (about 6 miles) and an epicenter 16 kilometres (10 miles) southwest of Moron.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello urged people to remain outside as aftershocks could further damage structures, and many people stayed on the streets for hours, some sitting on the ground hugging pets as dust gathered around them. In downtown Caracas, hundreds of people spent the night huddled around parks, parking lots and other open spaces. Authorities warned against returning to homes with structural damage.

“We were afraid the buildings would collapse on us,” said Maria Cristina Diaz, a 41-year-old janitor. “My mother, my daughter and I were cold. We didn’t sleep a wink; but I didn’t want to spend the night alone at home after that terrible earthquake.”

“It was awful. We cried, we screamed. Thankfully, we’re alive,” she added.

Diaz and her family rushed to Plaza Candelaria in downtown Caracas because it’s one of the few open areas near her home.

Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone coverage, and the earthquakes damaged and closed Simon Bolivar International Airport, the country’s main airport, Rodriguez said.

In Caracas, subway services were suspended and natural gas shut off, she said. Classes will also be cancelled for several days, and the Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters and donation centres.

On Thursday morning scores of people battled with lack of cellphone signal in parts of Venezuela as they took to social media to track down missing family members.

Several governments offered assistance

Rodriguez 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 hospitals and homes damaged by the earthquakes, and had instructed the economy and finance ministers to oversee the effort.

Offers of help poured in from countries around the world.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States is “immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela.”

“We will have a whole of government response,” Rubio said Thursday in Bahrain. “It will be big. It will be fast. It will be effective.”

He added that one of the runways at Caracas’ international airport was cracked in the earthquake, making landing aircraft there difficult.

Rodriguez -- who became acting president after an American military operation captured her predecessor, Nicolas Maduro, and brought him to the U.S. to stand trial -- thanked U.S. President Donald Trump. She said in an X post later that she spoke with Rubio by phone without sharing details. She also expressed thanks to the leaders of various nations who have sent messages of support and offers of help.

Ecuador ordered the delivery of humanitarian aid, and Rodriguez said Qatar, Mexico and El Salvador had already sent rescue personnel.

“We send you all our solidarity and our prayers. Stay strong, Venezuela,” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, once diametrically opposed to Venezuela’s government, wrote in a post on X.

By Regina Garcia Cano and Juan Pablo Arraez, The Associated Press

Garcia Cano reported from Bogota, Colombia. Associated Press writers Clara Preve in Buenos Aires, Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia, Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo and Anna-Catherine Brigida, Megan Janetsky and India Grant in Mexico City, Cristina Fuentes in Madrid and Maria Teresa Hernandez in Beijing contributed to this report.