Venezuela’s president declares a state of emergency after two powerful earthquakes of magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 struck the country within minutes of each other on Wednesday, causing buildings to collapse and spreading panic in the capital, Caracas.
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“It is likely that the toll will be heavy and the damage will be significant,” wrote the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
No results were immediately made public. According to the USGS, a first tremor of Richter magnitude 7.2 occurred at 6:04 p.m. at a depth of 21.9 km, about 200 km west of Caracas. A second of magnitude 7.5 at 10 km depth was recorded 39 seconds later 45 km away.
Still according to the institute, it is a “double event” and a “catastrophe which should be of considerable magnitude”.
🇻🇪 | M7.1 | URGENT: The Simón Bolívar international airport in Maiquetía with serious damage after the 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/V6TrlwcuVn
— Alerta News 24 (@AlertNews24) June 24, 2026
In Caracas, the country’s capital, AFP photographers saw rescue teams organizing around collapsed buildings. People were taken out of the rubble strapped onto stretchers, others were taken to ambulances.
An AFP journalist saw a 22-story building completely destroyed in the Altamira district. Outside, people shouted the names of their loved ones and some volunteers climbed on the rubble. “We need flashlights,” one of them shouted.
AFP
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said several buildings had collapsed in the capital, and said he had ordered the gas supply to be cut off.
“Some structures have been damaged and we want to avoid any gas-related accidents,” he wrote on X.
” Amazing “
Many panicked people rushed into the street, according to AFP journalists.
“It was incredible, I don’t even know how long it lasted. I was on the top floor and a lot of things fell,” Heidi Romero, a 42-year-old shopkeeper, told AFP.
Major earthquakes strike Venezuela:
* Twin quakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 hit near San Felipe, west of Caracas.
* Structural collapses reported in multiple cities.
* USGS estimates about 8 million people felt strong shaking.
* Preliminary modeling suggests a potentially high death… pic.twitter.com/SiyIMVQELf
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 25, 2026
Ms. Romero said she evacuated by stairs from the busy shopping center where she was located in the Altamira district of the Venezuelan capital.
“The whole wall cracked, things fell from the ceiling. It was horrible,” testified Odalis Escalona, 54, who works in a bank.
Power outages were reported in the capital.
AFP
Carmen Guédez, 69, was in her bedridden sister’s room when the ground started to shake.
“The intensity has continued to increase,” this administrator, who lives in a middle-class neighborhood on the heights of the capital, told AFP.
“I started seeing the windows start to move, and then everything started shaking. My sister, a neighbor and I stayed huddled together, we couldn’t get out,” she testified.
The shock was felt as far away as Colombia, in the capital Bogota, which is 1,000 km away as the crow flies.
AFP
According to the Colombian Risk and Disaster Management Unit “there is no risk of tsunami on the Colombian Caribbean coast”.
“The characteristics of this event, with a shallow depth and a high magnitude, cause the waves to propagate through the entire earth’s crust and are therefore widely felt in Colombian territory,” explained Freddy Tovar, coordinator of the National Seismological Network of Colombia.
