A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Venezuela at 5:04 p.m. Wednesday, followed quickly by a 7.5-magnitude temblor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The agency located the epicenter for both quakes near the town of Yamure, roughly 200 miles west of Caracas. Buildings collapsed in the capital and other cities across the country.
State broadcaster Telesur disseminated photos and videos showing residents huddling outside after evacuating and streets littered with rubble fallen from damaged buildings. It was unclear whether anyone had died.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said the heaviest damage was reported in residential and commercial districts of east Caracas, the same seismically active areas that were devastated in a 1967 earthquake. Officials were gathering information from around the country, Cabello said on state television, urging citizens to leave their homes. Authorities temporarily cut natural-gas service in the capital as a precaution, he added.
“There are several problematic areas here,” Cabello said. “We have some very alarming situations.”
Residents described their experiences as the quakes hit. Francelin Machuca, 53, said she was asleep when the shaking began.
“I was asleep, and it was terrible as the bed began to move,” Machuca said. “But I was afraid to start running, so I stayed under the door frame.”
Barbara De Jesus said on X that she evacuated her apartment with her husband and cat. “I saw the walls of my building crumbling down,” she wrote.
Jose Cordero, 39, speaking from Puerto La Cruz east of Caracas on the Caribbean coast, said he felt the quakes for more than a minute. “I felt like I was at sea and the waves were shaking me,” he said.
Wilmer Azuaje posted video of himself at the airport as parts of the terminal’s roof crumbled. “It’s shaking,” Azuaje said as dust and debris fell around passengers. Large cracks lined the walls, and the check-in areas and baggage conveyor belt were covered with bricks.
“Look at this! Everything is totally destroyed,” Azuaje said.
The earthquakes struck a country already in deep crisis. Years of economic devastation have driven nearly nine million Venezuelans to flee abroad as poverty skyrocketed and the oil industry collapsed. The disaster response will fall to interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who took power in January after the U.S. military ousted former leftist strongman Nicolás Maduro. Rodríguez has preserved predecessor’s authoritarian system while becoming a close partner of the Trump administration, WSJ reported.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado, who fled Venezuela last year, wrote on X: “My prayers are with every Venezuelan home in these hours of anguish. May strength, serenity, and solidarity prevail among us in the face of this difficult moment.”