Caracas hit by 4.6-magnitude aftershock as quake rescue continues

A 4.6-magnitude aftershock rattled Caracas on Monday. The jolt was centered north of the capital at a depth of about 10 kilometers, and officials said no new damage had been reported.

The aftershock struck as the hardest-hit areas remained under strain, especially La Guaira, where collapsed buildings and unstable structures have made search-and-rescue work more dangerous. The main earthquakes on 24 June measured 7.2 and 7.5 and triggered more than 430 aftershocks by 27 June, keeping residents and responders under constant pressure as teams searched for survivors and tried to secure damaged neighborhoods.

The epicenter was off the coast some 28 to 30 kilometers northwest of Montalbán in Carabobo, with damage spread across La Guaira, Caracas, Miranda, Carabobo and Yaracuy. The government declared a state of emergency as electricity, water, telecommunications, transport systems, the Caracas Metro and Maiquetía International Airport all suffered disruption.

Casualty counts have moved quickly as crews reached damaged communities and new information came in. OCHA listed 1,430 dead and 3,238 injured in its 27 June update, while the International Organization for Migration's earlier assessment put the toll at 920 dead and 3,360 injured. OCHA also listed more than 3,100 families displaced and at least 1,423 infrastructures affected.

Urban Search and Rescue teams from 27 countries were operating in Venezuela under OCHA coordination, while the Venezuelan Red Cross's national headquarters was critically damaged and some volunteers lost their homes. The organization was still working around the clock on search and rescue, psychological first aid, family tracing and damage assessments.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies launched a 50 million Swiss franc appeal to help 300,000 people and sent the first 17 tonnes of humanitarian cargo from its regional hub in Panama. The shipment included kitchen sets, hygiene kits, mosquito nets and other essentials.