Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, has declared a state of emergency after the country was struck by two powerful earthquakes that collapsed dozens of buildings and killed at least 32 people, with experts warning the death toll could rise significantly.
Rodríguez said that hundreds were injured, and more casualties were expected.
In a televised broadcast on Wednesday night she urged citizens to evacuate damaged structures: “We ask the population to remain calm and united,” Rodríguez said.
The quakes – among the largest in Venezuela’s history – occurred in quick succession and were felt in many parts of the country. But the worst destruction appeared to have taken place in and around the capital Caracas where videos on social media showed scenes of panic as passengers raced through the corridors of Maiquetía airport seeking cover from falling debris.
Rodríguez said that airport had been closed after suffering “severe damage” and announced that the metro and train systems had been halted. “We send our immediate condolences to those who have lost relatives,” the acting president added, although she did not say how many casualties or fatalities there had been.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said Venezuela had been hit by two quakes: a magnitude 7.5 “mainshock” and a 7.2 “foreshock” 39 seconds earlier. The epicentre was west of the community of Moron, located along Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, about 168 kilometres (104 miles) west of Caracas. The quake had a depth of 13 kilometres (8 miles).
“High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” the USGS said.
Reuters news agency reported that three people were killed in the Baruta district in Caracas after two buildings collapsed, according to the district mayor. One person was killed and four buildings had completely collapsed, Gustavo Duque, the mayor of Chacao district in Caracas told journalists. Twenty-two people had been moved to hospital.
US president Donald Trump said the US was ready, willing and able to help in the disaster.
“The two major earthquakes that just hit the great people of Venezuela are both massive in scale and have left a devastating number of deaths,” Trump said.
The country’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, told the state broadcaster VTV: “A seismic event that everything suggests was considerably above 7 points has taken place. There are several complicated areas … very alarming areas from the visual point of view, with buildings and homes that have collapsed.”
“Normally this kind of event is followed by aftershocks, which could also bring down some structures that were damaged by the main event,” Cabello warned.
A Guardian reporter saw at least three buildings that had collapsed in Altamira, an upmarket area of Caracas that is home to many foreign embassies, after the quakes hit shortly after 6pm on Wednesday afternoon.
Some people were reportedly trapped under the rubble although the number of victims and the death toll was not immediately clear. Outside one of the buildings a person was seen weeping and crying out the name of his grandmother who he feared was inside. Nearby rescue workers and volunteers searched for survivors.
“It was horrible,” said Olky Barrero, a 56-year-old teacher, as she joined the search effort outside the collapsed six-floor building. “We hope to God that there are as few victims as possible. We’re praying.”
“Where I was, it felt like the walls were going to fall on top of us, they were shaking back and forth, this way and that,” added Barrero as two victims, at least one of them still alive, were hauled out of the building’s ruins.
José Morillo said several members of his family were inside the building. “My brother, my son and nephews are all inside. I have faith. I believe in God a lot. I hope everyone is OK – but uncertainty is torture,” the 61-year-old added as rescue workers combed the wreckage.
Thick columns of dust could be seen rising from the city while images showed residents fleeing badly damaged buildings with their belongings and pets.
One of the worst hit areas appeared to have been La Guaira, a port city just north of Caracas on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast. La Guaira is home to Venezuela’s main international airport, the Simón Bolívar International Airport, and is also close to some of the hillside communities that came under attack by US forces, when Donald Trump ordered the 3 January attack on Venezuela this year to abduct its president Nicolás Maduro.
One large beachfront hotel in La Guaira, Eduard’s Hotel Boutique, was almost completely destroyed. Nearby in Catia La Mar, Venezuela’s naval academy and a number of tall residential buildings were also severely damaged.
The US embassy in Caracas urged its citizens to avoid damaged areas, not to enter damaged buildings and to seek secure shelter.
“There are many injured people inside. It’s a disaster,” one man could be heard saying in footage shot outside a building that had collapsed in San Bernardino, an area of northern Caracas.
In Baruta, a suburb of Caracas, civil defence workers used stretchers to carry victims from shattered buildings after a landslide triggered by the earthquake.
Baruta’s mayor, Darwin González, posted social media footage of a woman being recused from the rubble. “We call on people to remain calm and civil at this time,” he wrote.
The exiled opposition leader and Nobel laureate, María Corina Machado, wrote on X: “My heart, my infinite embrace, and my prayers are with every Venezuelan home in these hours of anguish. May strength, serenity and solidarity prevail among us in the face of this difficult moment.”
