Venezuela earthquake death toll rises as rescue teams race on coast

Survivors in Catia la Mar slept outside near the Oasis apartment building as rescue crews worked through collapsed concrete, while a Caracas baseball stadium shook hard enough to send players running for safety. Four days after the twin earthquakes struck northern Venezuela, the death toll had climbed sharply and thousands of families were still waiting for news.

Initial official figures put the disaster at at least 235 dead and at least 4,300 injured. By June 28, authorities were counting at least 1,450 dead and more than 3,300 injured, with thousands still missing. In Catia la Mar, about 30 km northwest of Caracas, local and international rescue teams searched the rubble in La Guaira state, pressing through the critical hours after the quakes in a race against time.

The destruction spread far beyond the collapsed buildings. Some reports said about 3,000 families lost their homes, forcing people into the open as aid trickled in slowly. More than 200 aftershocks rattled the region in the days after the main shocks, prolonging fear and complicating recovery work. In La Guaira, reports of looting added to the strain on emergency response as officials tried to keep order and move assistance to the hardest-hit neighborhoods.

Catia la Mar became one of the clearest images of the crisis on Venezuela’s coast. The Oasis apartment building was among the damaged landmarks tied to the search effort, and the baseball stadium interruption in Caracas showed how widely the earthquakes were felt across the capital region. For people sheltering outdoors, the urgent needs were immediate and basic: a safe place to sleep, word on missing relatives, and enough help to keep the search from outrunning the survivors.