Two nearly simultaneous earthquakes of magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 devastated northern Venezuela’s coast late Wednesday, leaving thousands feared dead and toppling numerous buildings. Rescue teams are racing against time to reach the hardest-hit areas.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Pentagon would facilitate the deployment of search and rescue teams to the affected region, after the Simón Bolívar International Airport—Venezuela’s main gateway—sustained heavy damage. “Their most urgent need right now is search and rescue,” Rubio told reporters. “They have many collapsed buildings and will need a lot of help digging.” He emphasized the critical next 72-hour window: “In search and rescue, you try to reach people while they can still be saved—while they are buried under the rubble.”
The coastal area near the international airport—including the cities of La Guaira, Catia La Mar, and Caraballeda—appears to have suffered the worst damage. A row of major towers was completely leveled, and local residents are frantically searching for missing relatives. In some cases, entire families of four or five have disappeared. “This is an absolute tragedy,” acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared in a televised address, designating the La Guaira region a “disaster zone.”
Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, also sustained significant damage, with several buildings collapsing in the Altamira and Los Palos Grandes neighborhoods. The earthquakes were so powerful that they affected Manaus, Brazil—a city in the Amazon rainforest more than 1,000 miles south of Caracas—prompting evacuations from homes.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that more than 100 buildings collapsed in La Guaira alone, including the Ritasol Palace apartment complex and the coastal Eduard’s hotel, both of which were flattened. “We are fully mobilized right now… We will bring manpower, solidarity, and above all else, search and rescue support to those who have lost so much… This is the time for action,” said Tom Fletcher, OCHA’s head.
The international community has expressed condolences and offered support to the South American nation, already exhausted by years of economic crisis, humanitarian turmoil, and political repression. French President Emmanuel Macron declared: “France is ready, along with European partners, to provide aid to the affected people. A professional French rescue team of 85 people will be deployed immediately.” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed “great concern and shock” for the Venezuelan people, who he said have shown “remarkable resilience in the face of adversity.”
US President Donald Trump—who earlier this year ordered the kidnapping of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro—said: “America stands ready and able to help! I have instructed all government agencies to be ready to move quickly. We will be there for our great new friends. The early reports are terrible!!!”
Acting President Rodríguez, who assumed office after the fall of Maduro, expressed gratitude for the global wave of solidarity. In a televised message, she said the hardest-hit area was La Guaira state—described as the “epicenter” of the disaster. Aerial footage showed a devastating tableau: a strip of Caribbean coastal towns and resorts west of the airport lay in ruins, with many seaside buildings torn open and some completely destroyed.
