Venezuela's interim leader declared a state of emergency Wednesday as two massive earthquakes caused buildings in the capital to crumble and forced the closure of the country's main airport.
Read moreVenezuela earthquakes live: Death toll jumps to at least 164, nearly 1,000 injured
Acting President Delcy Rodriguez said the quakes killed at least 164 people and injured more than 1,000, warning that the toll was expected to rise as rescuers search collapsed buildings and emergency crews reach devastated areas
Rodriguez said 20 aftershocks had followed the earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, which struck the same area of Venezuela, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
US President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that the United States stood "ready, willing, and able to help" Venezuela after the South American nation was hit by two powerful earthquakes.
"The two major earthquakes that just hit the great people of Venezuela are both massive in scale and have left a devastating number of deaths," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
"The U.S.A. stands ready, willing, and able to help! I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly. We will be there for our new and great friends. Early reports are not good!!!"
The quakes triggered panic in the capital and drove people into the streets, AFP journalists saw.
Television broadcasts showed rescue workers using power tools to work their way into piles of rubble where buildings once stood. Panicked residents of the capital were sent pouring into the streets, and after the quakes many people walked among the debris searching for the missing among collapsed buildings and toppled electric poles.
Footage on state TV showed three children, covered in dust but alive, pulled from the rubble in La Guaira state, which Rodríguez described as a “disaster zone” and one of the areas hardest hit by the quakes because of the large number of collapsed buildings.
Rodríguez said authorities were shifting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which sits north of Caracas on the coast. She said officials were trying to make the most of the daylight hours to speed up efforts to rescue people believed to remain trapped under the rubble.
“Dozens of buildings have collapsed there ... and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” Rodríguez said.
Video shared online appeared to show dozens of people, some lying on the ground and others on hospital beds, being treated outside a hospital in La Guaira.
'We couldn't get out'
At a depth of 22 kilometers and 10 kilometers respectively, the tremors prompted screams of panic at a shopping center in Caracas, an AFP journalist observed.
"It was unbelievable, I don't even know how long it lasted," said shopkeeper Heidi Romero, who was on the top floor of the shopping center when the quake struck.
"We went out through the emergency stairs; that's how they got us out," the 42-year-old told AFP.
Dozens more in the capital exited buildings and waited outside before returning to their offices and homes.
Carmen Guedez, 69, was in the same room as her bedridden sister when she felt the jolt.
"It kept getting stronger," said the administrator, who lives in a hilly middle-class neighborhood above the capital. "I started to see the windows begin to move and then everything shook."
She described how she "huddled together" with her sister and a neighbor, adding that "we couldn't get out. The neighbors are still out on the street."
The states of Trujillo, Carabobo, Miranda and La Guaira were the hardest hit, according to Cabello.
Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone coverage, and the earthquakes damaged and closed Simón Bolívar International Airport, the country’s main airport, Rodríguez said.
In Caracas, subway services were suspended and natural gas shut off, she said. Classes will also be canceled for several days, and the Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters and donation centers.
Roberto Gamas, another Caracas resident, said the building he was in “shook from side to side. Unreal. The force was incredibly strong.”
The lack of cellphone signal in parts of Venezuela deepened the distress of many families, particularly those among the more than 7.7 million people who have left the country during its protracted crisis and who struggled to reach relatives inside the country.
On Thursday, scores of people took to social media asking for help finding loved ones, posting pictures of missing relatives and their last known location.
Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado, herself in exile, sent wishes on X for “strength, serenity, and solidarity.”
The U.S. Geological Survey said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, hit west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas. It had a depth of 22 kilometers (about 14 miles).
The USGS reported a 7.5 magnitude earthquake just a minute later, with a depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) and an epicenter 16 kilometers (10 miles) southwest of Moron.
Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for hospitals and homes damaged by the earthquakes, and had instructed the economy and finance ministers to oversee the effort.
Offers of help poured in from countries around the world.
U.S. Secretary of State Rubio said in a post on X early Thursday that the United States is “immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela.”
Rodríguez — who became acting president after an American military operation captured her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and brought him to the U.S. to stand trial — thanked U.S. President Donald Trump. She said in an X post later that she spoke with Rubio by phone without sharing details. She also expressed thanks to the leaders of various nations who have sent messages of support and offers of help.
Ecuador ordered the delivery of humanitarian aid, and Rodríguez said Qatar, Mexico and El Salvador had already sent rescue personnel.
“We send you all our solidarity and our prayers. Stay strong, Venezuela,” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, once diametrically opposed to Venezuela’s government, wrote in a post on X.
Buildings in Manaus, Belem and Macapa in Brazil’s Amazon were evacuated, according to reports on TV Globo. The quakes also were felt in Colombia’s Caribbean and northeast regions.
The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued several tsunami alerts that were quickly lifted.
While uncommon in Venezuela, earthquakes are frequent along the Pacific coast, including in Mexico and Chile, which both sit along the seismically active tectonic belt known as the Ring of Fire, an area that the USGS says is responsible for 90% of earthquakes.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP)
