Twin earthquakes leave thousands homeless across northern Venezuela

Families in northern Venezuela spent the night in plazas, on sidewalks and inside cars after twin earthquakes tore through the region 39 seconds apart and left homes too dangerous to trust. The strongest jolts, measured at magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, hit on Wednesday, June 24, and sent residents in Caracas, La Guaira and other coastal areas into the open as damaged buildings continued to sway with aftershocks.

By Thursday, rescue crews and neighbors were still digging through rubble by hand in search of survivors. In La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit areas, people used their hands to clear debris nearly 24 hours after the disaster, while damage in Caracas raised fears about the condition of the capital’s housing stock. The country’s main airport was also damaged and closed, cutting into the reach of relief teams and complicating travel into and out of the affected zone.

The death toll stood in the hundreds and injuries in the thousands late on June 25. Thousands of people were left homeless by the quakes or chose not to return indoors because they feared collapsed walls, cracked concrete and another strong aftershock.

Tom Fletcher, the United Nations humanitarian chief, called for a massive collective effort in the coming days. Aid groups warned that the mental-health impact on children could last for years, especially in neighborhoods where the noise of the collapse, the loss of sleep and the sight of displaced relatives now defined daily life.

The earthquakes struck a country already strained by years of economic collapse, instability and a large displacement crisis that had uprooted millions before the ground moved.