CARACAS (VENEZUELA), June 25: At least 164 people have died and 971 were injured after a pair of powerful quakes rocked Venezuela, Acting President Delcy Rodriguez said Thursday, adding that rescue teams are rushing to the hardest-hit areas to free people trapped under rubble.
Wednesday evening’s 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes were among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century and could be felt throughout the region. The country’s main airport was damaged and closed, while buildings were evacuated in places as far away as Brazil’s Amazon, about 1,700 kilometres from Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.
Television broadcasts Thursday 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 Rodriguez described as a “disaster zone” and one of the areas hardest hit by the quakes because of the large number of collapsed buildings.
Rodriguez 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,” Rodriguez 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.
While Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.
Rodriguez appealed to businesses to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations, adding that search and rescue teams certified by the United Nations were on their way to Venezuela to assist.
Residents fled their homes in panic
During the quakes, people ran from swaying buildings in Caracas, many visibly shocked when they turned back to see destroyed walls that left furniture visible from the street. Columns of dust rose in two typically busy neighbourhoods in the capital.
“It started off gently and then gradually grew, and in the end, we all had to leave our houses, go outside and gather together,” Caracas resident Hector Ricci said.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello urged people to remain outside as aftershocks could further damage structures, and many people stayed on the streets for hours, some sitting on the ground hugging pets as dust gathered around them. Others spent the night in parked cars, subway stations and other public places.
Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone coverage, and the earthquakes damaged and closed Simon Bolivar International Airport, the country’s main airport, Rodriguez said.
In Caracas, subway services were suspended and natural gas shut off, she said. Classes will also be cancelled for several days, and the Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters and donation centres.
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 Maria Corina Machado, herself in exile, sent wishes on X for “strength, serenity, and solidarity.”
Venezuela was hit twice
The US Geological Survey said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, hit west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometres west of Caracas. It had a depth of 22 kilometres.
The USGS reported a 7.5 magnitude earthquake just a minute later, with a depth of 10 kilometres and an epicentre 16 kilometres southwest of Moron.
Several governments offered aid
Rodriguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a USD 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.
Earthquakes impact the region
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 US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre 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 per cent of earthquakes. (AP)
