标签： South America

Two rare consecutive deadly earthquakes rocked Venezuela this Wednesday, leaving hundreds dead and injured across the affected region. The destructive doublet quake has drawn renewed attention to the severe seismic risk that has shaped the history of the Americas, prompting a retrospective look at the deadliest seismic events recorded across Central and South America over the past 100 years.

In September 2017, Mexico faced an unprecedented seismic disaster when an 8.1 magnitude quake and a 7.1 magnitude aftershock struck within seven days, laying waste to large swathes of southern and central Mexico, including the capital Mexico City. The event claimed the lives of nearly 500 people and left thousands more displaced.

Just one year earlier, on April 16, 2016, a 7.8 magnitude tremor hit Ecuador’s coastal provinces, leveling entire towns and killing more than 650 residents. In February 2010, central Chile was shaken by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake that shook the capital city for 90 straight seconds before triggering a devastating tsunami. The disaster resulted in 523 fatalities. Three years prior, in August 2007, an 8.0 magnitude quake off Peru’s central coast killed more than 500 people.

One of the deadliest events in recent regional history unfolded in El Salvador across the first two months of 2001. A 7.7 magnitude offshore quake on January 13 was followed just a month later by a 6.6 magnitude aftershock. Combined with massive landslides triggered by the seismic activity, the back-to-back events killed more than 1,200 people. In January 1999, a 6.0 magnitude quake destroyed the Colombian city of Armenia, leaving roughly 1,170 people dead.

In April 1991, a 7.4 magnitude quake killed more than 80 people across Costa Rica and neighboring Panama, leaving an estimated 30,000 residents cut off from critical food, clean water, and emergency medical supplies for days. In September 1985, an 8.1 magnitude quake hit central Mexico, killing an estimated 12,000 people; the true death toll has never been confirmed due to widespread reporting gaps in the aftermath of the disaster.

Going further back, in February 1976, a 7.5 magnitude quake hit western Guatemala, killing more than 22,700 people. Four years earlier, in December 1972, a 6.2 magnitude quake struck Nicaragua, killing a minimum of 6,000 people, with unofficial estimates placing the death toll as high as 9,000. In May 1970, a 7.9 magnitude quake hit northern Peru, killing more than 66,000 people, making it one of the deadliest seismic events in the region’s modern history.

The 1960 Great Chilean Earthquake, also known as the Valdivia Earthquake, remains the most powerful quake ever recorded in human history, registering a magnitude of 9.5. The disaster killed more than 1,655 people, many of whom lost their lives to the massive tsunami it triggered, and left more than 2 million people homeless. Nearly a decade earlier, in August 1949, a 6.8 magnitude quake in Ecuador killed roughly 5,050 people.

In January 1939, an 8.3 magnitude quake hit the Chilean city of Chillan, killing approximately 28,000 people, with some estimates putting the death toll near 30,000. At the start of the 20th century, in January 1906, an 8.8 magnitude quake struck near Ecuador’s Esmeraldas, an event dubbed the Ecuador-Colombia earthquake. It generated a massive tsunami that killed roughly 1,500 people and traveled all the way north to the coast of San Francisco, California.

On a devastating Wednesday evening, Venezuela was hit by two back-to-back powerful earthquakes measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, marking one of the strongest seismic events to strike the South American nation in over a century. The tremors were felt across the entire surrounding region, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake: official casualty reports confirm at least 164 people have been killed, more than 1,000 others have sustained injuries, and dozens more remain trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings as of Thursday. By Thursday morning, Venezuelan emergency response teams were racing against the clock, leveraging every minute of daylight to accelerate search and rescue operations for survivors still buried under destroyed infrastructure. In the hours following the disaster, world leaders and senior officials from across the globe issued statements of solidarity and committed tangible support to Venezuela’s relief and recovery efforts.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared the nation’s condolences via the social platform X, saying, “The United States extends our deepest condolences to the people of Venezuela following the devastating earthquakes.” Rubio confirmed that the U.S. was launching an immediate emergency response, noting “the United States is ‘immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela.’” He extended sympathies to all grieving families, injured victims, and praised the on-the-ground rescue crews working around the clock to find survivors.

French President Emmanuel Macron also issued a statement via X, affirming France’s unwavering solidarity with the Venezuelan people. Macron confirmed that a specialized team of 85 search and clearance rescue workers would be deployed to the disaster zone without delay, adding, “France stands ready, alongside its European partners, to provide assistance to the affected populations in response to the needs identified by the Venezuelan authorities.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reaffirmed his country’s commitment to supporting Venezuela through the recovery process. Lula announced he had directed Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to launch an immediate assessment of on-the-ground conditions to determine what forms of aid Brazil can contribute. “I reaffirm our determination to support the government of Acting President Delcy Rodríguez in the recovery of affected areas in this sister nation, whose people have demonstrated great resilience in the face of adversity,” he wrote on X.

At a Thursday press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun extended sincere condolences to the Venezuelan government and all communities impacted by the quakes. “China is willing to provide assistance to Venezuela to the best of its ability, according to Venezuela’s needs,” Guo stated, confirming China’s readiness to contribute to relief efforts upon request.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez shared his message of support via Instagram, writing, “All the support from me and Spain to the Venezuelan people after the devastating earthquakes of last night. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.”

Colombia’s President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella also voiced his full solidarity with the Venezuelan people via X. “I stand in full solidarity with the brotherly people of Venezuela following the devastating earthquake. Colombia stands with you during this difficult time with affection, respect, and hope. My prayers are with the victims and their families. God will provide,” he wrote.

Venezuela is reeling from a devastating pair of powerful earthquakes that struck Wednesday, adding a new layer of catastrophe to a nation already grappling with political chaos and years of systemic decline. As death tolls continue to climb in the wake of the tremors, the disaster has laid bare both the enduring challenges and subtle shifts in the South American country just five months after a dramatic US military operation removed long-ruling leader Nicolás Maduro from power. Maduro, the left-wing leader who governed Venezuela from 2013 until January 2026, was captured in a dawn raid on his Caracas presidential compound and extradited to New York to face trial on international drug trafficking charges.

In the aftermath of Maduro’s removal, his close ally and former vice-president Delcy Rodríguez stepped into the role of interim president — a move that frustrated opposition supporters, who had expected the Trump administration to install opposition leader María Corina Machado at the helm of the transitional government. Now, Rodríguez’s response to the twin earthquakes is offering a clear snapshot of what has, and what has not, changed in Venezuela, as the country confronts the severe vulnerabilities of its long-decrepit infrastructure.

More than two hours after the quakes hit, Rodríguez delivered a national address on the state-owned television network VTV. In the gap between the disaster and her public address, official updates were extremely limited. While broken communication lines in the hardest-hit regions explain part of this delay, the information vacuum also traces back to media restrictions enacted under Maduro’s tenure. The former government shut down hundreds of independent local radio stations and online news outlets that would typically serve as critical sources of on-the-ground updates for affected communities during a crisis.

Rodríguez spoke alongside two of her closest allies: her brother Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, who swore her into office days after Maduro’s capture, and Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela’s interior minister and a steadfast Maduro loyalist. In a notable break from his public appearances in the months leading up to the US intervention, Cabello did not wear his customary military fatigues, instead standing silently beside the interim president alongside Jorge Rodríguez. Visibly shaken by the disaster, Rodríguez opened her address with a urgent call for national unity, appealing to a population that has remained deeply polarized for more than a decade between supporters of Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chávez, and opposition factions.

She also declared a national state of emergency and appointed General Juan Ernesto Sulbarán, commander of Venezuela’s National Guard, to lead the country’s disaster response efforts. This appointment reflects a long-standing pattern of Venezuelan politics: throughout the 25 years that Chávez and Maduro held power, top government positions were almost exclusively filled by high-ranking military officers. For years, most key state ministries were led by generals, and analysts widely attribute the country’s crumbling infrastructure to the lack of specialized expertise among these military appointees.

Under pressure from the Trump administration, Rodríguez has recently made small moves to diversify her cabinet: she replaced the general leading the housing ministry with a civilian architect, and swapped the military head of the electricity ministry for a professional electrical engineer. Even with these incremental changes, decades of mismanagement, compounded by crippling US economic sanctions, have left most public infrastructure — particularly public housing — in severe disrepair. For example, the state-owned cement industry collapsed after its nationalization under Chávez, creating a nationwide shortage of building materials that has left critical structural repairs undone for years. This has left millions of buildings far more vulnerable to collapse during seismic events like this week’s quakes.

Venezuela’s emergency response services have also suffered from chronic underinvestment, a side effect of the military’s outsized influence over national spending. For decades, funding and equipment were prioritized for the armed forces, leaving civil protection and rescue agencies without modern tools, rescue vehicles, and sufficient resources to respond to large-scale disasters. Recognizing these deep shortcomings, Rodríguez publicly thanked foreign governments that have already pledged support to Venezuela’s relief effort — and in a striking break from Maduro’s policy, she explicitly highlighted aid offers from ideologically opposed leaders, including US President Donald Trump. She told the nation that the Trump administration had maintained constant communication with Venezuelan authorities to offer support and solidarity. She also thanked the right-wing presidents of the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Chile for their offers of assistance.

Maduro consistently restricted foreign aid to assistance from ideological allies, so Rodríguez’s willingness to accept help from across the political divide marks a clear shift in policy. For Venezuelans waking to widespread destruction, and for the dozens of families still waiting for news of loved ones trapped under collapsed rubble, this open approach to international aid offers a faint glimmer of hope amid overwhelming tragedy and ongoing national uncertainty. “The solidarity between our people is an invaluable source of strength in moments like these,” Rodríguez said in her address.

A catastrophic seismic event has left Venezuela reeling from widespread destruction, after two powerful earthquakes hit just seconds apart in the country’s northern region, claiming at least 164 lives and leaving hundreds of people injured.

According to data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the first tremor, registering a magnitude of 7.2, struck at 18:04 local time (22:04 GMT) on June 25, 2026, centered just 23 kilometers southeast of Yumare, a small town located west of the Venezuelan capital Caracas. Barely 38 seconds later, a second, stronger 7.5-magnitude quake hit the same general area, amplifying the destructive force across the region.

Seismologists explain that a quake’s destructive power depends on more than just its magnitude. Depth of the epicenter, local population density, and regional building quality all play critical roles in determining damage severity. The first earthquake was recorded at a depth of 20.3 kilometers below the Earth’s surface, while the second was far shallower at just 10 kilometers deep – a factor that greatly increases the intensity of shaking and resulting damage to surface infrastructure. Following the event, the USGS issued a risk assessment estimating a 44% probability that the final death toll could exceed 10,000, as rescue teams continue to clear rubble and reach remote affected areas.

Geographically, Venezuela sits along the highly active tectonic boundary where the Caribbean Plate and South American Plate slide past one another. The USGS notes that the twin quakes were almost certainly triggered by the sudden release of accumulated tectonic friction along this boundary, a common geologic driver of major seismic events in the region.

Widespread damage has been reported across multiple states. The strongest shaking from the second quake damaged or destroyed countless structures in Caracas and the nearby coastal town of La Guaira. Venezuela’s Interior Ministry confirmed that five additional states – Trujillo, Yaracuy, Carabobo, Aragua and Miranda – have also sustained serious impacts.

Footage verified by the BBC shows one of the most dramatic examples of destruction: a 10-story hotel in La Guaira that has been completely reduced to rubble. Only the building’s entrance remains standing, with the collapsed remains of the rest of the structure piled high around and above it. Shockingly captured video from inside Caracas’ main international airport, located on the capital’s outskirts, shows clouds of dust and chunks of debris raining down from terminal ceilings amid the shaking. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez announced that the country’s primary international air hub has been indefinitely closed due to the severe structural damage it sustained.

As emergency response teams begin to deploy across the affected regions, authorities are still working to compile full casualty and damage reports, with the confirmed death toll expected to rise in the coming days.

A devastating sequence of back-to-back earthquakes has rocked Venezuela’s capital Caracas, leaving a crumpled collapsed building in its wake and triggering urgent large-scale rescue operations. Emergency response teams have deployed to the disaster site, where crews are methodically sifting through piles of concrete and twisted metal debris in the hopes of locating and pulling trapped survivors to safety.

The twin seismic events caught residents off guard, and the collapse of the structure has sparked fears that multiple people may still be trapped beneath the rubble. Local emergency management authorities have not yet released updated figures on casualties or the full scope of infrastructural damage across the city, but the immediate activation of search-and-rescue protocols underscores the severity of the seismic event.

Rescue teams are working around the clock, utilizing specialized equipment to detect signs of life beneath the wreckage. The disaster has prompted calls for coordination between local and national response agencies, as well as offers of mutual aid from neighboring regions that stand ready to support relief efforts if needed. As operations continue, rescue workers remain focused on their primary mission: finding any survivors who may still be clinging to life in the ruins of the collapsed building.

On Wednesday evening, two large-magnitude earthquakes struck northern Venezuela within one minute of each other, leaving at least 32 people dead and more than 700 injured, with widespread damage to infrastructure and communities across the South American nation, according to the country’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez. As rescue teams continue to comb through collapsed buildings and emergency crews work to reach cut-off, hard-hit areas, Rodríguez has warned the final casualty count is likely to climb. The events rank among the most powerful seismic events to hit Venezuela in more than 100 years, with shaking felt as far as 1,700 kilometers away in Brazil’s Amazon region.

Rodríguez declared a national state of emergency late Wednesday, confirming that the quakes left a trail of destruction across multiple Venezuelan states. As of early Thursday, casualty data did not include the worst-affected region: La Guaira, a coastal state roughly 30 kilometers north of the capital Caracas that Rodríguez has labeled a full disaster zone. “Dozens of buildings have collapsed there, and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” she stated in a national address.

The country’s primary international gateway, Simón Bolívar International Airport near Caracas, suffered significant damage and was forced to close immediately after the quakes. Caracas also suspended all subway operations and cut natural gas service to prevent safety hazards, while all school classes across the nation have been canceled for several days. The Ministry of Education announced that undamaged school facilities would be repurposed as emergency shelters and donation collection points to support displaced residents. Rodríguez urged all Venezuelans to report infrastructure damage via a government mobile application, called on medical professionals to report to hospitals to support care for the injured, and appealed for national calm and unity: “We urge our population to remain calm. We urge unity.”

Data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) confirms the details of the back-to-back events. The agency initially recorded the first quake at magnitude 7.1, later revising its measurement to 7.2. That first seismic event originated 168 kilometers west of Caracas, off the Caribbean coast west of the town of Morón, at a depth of 22 kilometers. Just 60 seconds later, a larger 7.5 magnitude quake hit 16 kilometers southwest of Morón at a shallower depth of 10 kilometers, amplifying the damage caused by the first shock. In the northern coastal state of Falcón, Governor Víctor Clark reported 32 people hospitalized and 15 residents trapped in collapsed structures in the immediate aftermath of the quakes.

Eyewitness accounts from Caracas paint a picture of widespread chaos and fear. Residents described buildings swaying violently, forcing thousands to evacuate into the streets as walls crumbled and dust plumes rose over busy commercial neighborhoods. For hours after the quakes, many people remained gathered outside, too afraid to return to damaged structures, with some sitting on the ground clutching their pets. Collapsed structures, fallen power poles and scattered debris blocked major roads, while sections of the capital lost electricity and cellular phone service, leaving many families unable to check on loved ones—including the more than 7.7 million Venezuelans who have relocated abroad during the country’s long-running political and economic crisis. “It started off gently and then gradually grew, and in the end, we all had to leave our houses, go outside and gather together,” said Caracas resident Hector Ricci. Fellow resident Roberto Gamas added: “The building I was in really shook from side to side. Unreal. The force was incredibly strong.”

Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello confirmed the quakes were felt across multiple states, and urged civilian motorists to yield the right of way to ambulances and emergency response vehicles. He reported collapsed homes and buildings in Caracas’ Altamira neighborhood, confirming injuries in the area, and noted that response teams were following established emergency protocols to accelerate rescue and aid delivery. Cabello also warned residents to stay outside of damaged structures due to the risk of additional damage from aftershocks, reminding the public to prioritize safety for vulnerable groups including children and older adults. Even in exile, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado shared a message of solidarity on social media platform X, asking for strength and unity for all Venezuelans navigating the crisis.

Seismologists note that major earthquakes are extremely rare in Venezuela. While the country sits near multiple tectonic boundaries, its position between the South American and Caribbean plates means large seismic events are far less frequent than in other Latin American nations along the Pacific Ring of Fire, the geologically active belt that produces 90% of the world’s earthquakes, per USGS data. Even so, the recent quakes were felt across a wide swathe of northern South America: buildings were evacuated in three Amazonian Brazilian cities hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter, while shaking was reported in Colombia’s Caribbean and northeastern regions with no immediate reports of damage or injury there. The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued brief tsunami alerts immediately after the quakes that were lifted within hours as no threat materialized.

In the wake of the disaster, dozens of nations have extended offers of international assistance to Venezuela, including countries with long-running political differences with the current administration. The United States, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama and Uruguay have all publicly pledged support. U.S. Undersecretary of State for Foreign Assistance Jeremy P. Lewin announced that the State Department has mobilized a dedicated disaster assistance task force to coordinate search-and-rescue teams, medical supplies, and other humanitarian resources in coordination with Venezuela’s interim government. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who has previously been openly opposed to Venezuela’s sitting government, shared a message of solidarity on X: “We send you all our solidarity and our prayers. Stay strong, Venezuela.” Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa added that he had ordered immediate delivery of humanitarian aid, noting: “Ecuador will respond with the speed and commitment this moment demands because, despite our enormous differences, humanity must always guide the actions of a leader.” Even Bolivia, which was just days ago grappling with its own national state of emergency following widespread anti-government protests, has offered any assistance required. Brazilian authorities confirmed that no Brazilian citizens have been reported injured in the quakes.