Venezuela quake survivors demand more government aid as toll rises

In La Guaira and nearby communities, government help remained patchy even as Venezuela’s official quake toll climbed to 920 dead and 3,360 injured, with more than 2,000 rescue workers from 27 countries deployed to the country. Firefighters, police, civil protection teams and the military were absent or only minimally present in some places, leaving neighbors to dig through rubble with their bare hands.

The twin earthquakes struck on June 24, seconds apart, at magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5. The second tremor was the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than 125 years, and authorities declared a state of emergency, suspended schools and non-essential services, and temporarily closed Maiquetía airport after it was damaged.

Delcy Rodríguez ordered doctors and nurses to report for duty as the government expanded its response. Agencies including the World Food Programme, the International Organization for Migration, UNOPS and UNHCR were mobilizing food, migration, shelter and search-and-rescue support, while teams from Mexico, El Salvador, Spain, Colombia, Switzerland and Germany joined the operation.

Earlier that day, the toll stood at 589 dead and 2,980 injured before the figures rose again, and UN OCHA later counted more than 302 aftershocks. Families also turned to social media and ad hoc websites to locate missing relatives, including one site that listed 50,000 people unaccounted for by June 26.

Catholic Relief Services and Caritas Venezuela put the number at 7.9 million people already in need of assistance before the earthquakes, while the United Nations estimated that nearly 7 million could be affected, including up to 2 million in Caracas.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s modeling showed the June 24, 2026, magnitude 7.5 quake southeast of Yumare was a shallow strike-slip event along the complex boundary between the Caribbean and South American plates. Its modeling suggested the sequence could have been far deadlier in a worst-case scenario, with a significant chance of more than 10,000 deaths.