Powerful earthquakes strike Venezuela, killing at least 188 and trapping many

Two powerful earthquakes ripped through north-central Venezuela on Wednesday, killing at least 188 people and leaving hundreds injured or unaccounted for as rescuers worked through damaged neighborhoods and a closed airport in Caracas. The first shock was followed 39 seconds later by a larger rupture, giving many residents almost no time to recover before the ground hit again.

The U.S. Department of State said the opening quake measured about magnitude 7.2, with a stronger magnitude 7.5 event arriving seconds later. The epicenters were reported near Morón in Carabobo state and in the Yaracuy region west of Caracas, shortly after 6 p.m. local time, when many people were still at home or moving through evening traffic.

That double-quake sequence helps explain the scale of the damage. The first rupture would have weakened walls, columns and other structural elements before the second, larger shock pushed already stressed buildings past their limits. The Venezuelan Red Cross headquarters was among the buildings affected, and the main airport in Caracas was closed after sustaining damage, a blow that complicated movement of people and relief supplies.

Official casualty counts climbed quickly through Thursday, rising from at least 164 dead and 971 injured to 188 dead and 1,520 injured. The U.S. Geological Survey’s PAGER model warned the event could prove far deadlier than the early toll suggested, putting a 42% probability on at least 10,000 deaths. Caracas journalist Tony Frangie described being trapped in an elevator, praying as the quake struck, and only realizing the full extent of the disaster after checking online.

Aid organizations began moving fast. UN agencies, UNICEF, the International Federation of the Red Cross, the Canadian Red Cross and Global Empowerment Mission all mobilized support as needs became clearer on Thursday. UNICEF said 3.9 million children live in the affected areas, including Caracas and the states of Aragua, Carabobo, Falcón, La Guaira and Miranda, warning that thousands of children and families were at risk.

The destruction also revived comparisons with Venezuela’s last major capital-area disaster, the 1967 Caracas earthquake, which killed about 225 to 300 people and injured about 1,536. Several assessments described the 2026 quakes as the strongest to strike Venezuela since 1900, a measure of how rare, violent and disruptive the twin shocks were for a country now facing a wide search-and-rescue effort and the threat of further aftershocks.