In a brief broadcast, acting President Delcy Rodríguez said several states across the Latin American country have been severely hit, including the capital, Caracas, where she reported that buildings have collapsed. At least 32 people are dead, and more than 700 are injured, Rodríguez said early Thursday morning, but that toll did not yet count the state of La Guaira near the coast, which is among the worst hit regions and which she described as a “real tragedy.”
According to USGS data, the first quake, a magnitude 7.2 with a depth of 20.3 km (12.6 mi), struck at around 6:04 p.m. local time. Its epicenter was about 176 km (109 miles) west of Caracas.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said in a statement that various state security and assistance agencies are responding to the situation. The country’s education ministry suspended classes nationwide, and schools will be used as shelters for affected families and collection centers.
Rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed building following a powerful earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, on June 24, 2026. —Diko Betancourt—Anadolu/Getty Images
The two quakes occurred within a short time and distance from each other, a phenomenon known as an earthquake doublet. The second tremor, which was magnitude 7.5, was the strongest to hit Venezuela or its immediate coastal area in more than a century, according to the USGS catalog.
That 1900 quake also triggered a nearby tsunami and was followed by more than 250 aftershocks in the following months.
Venezuela lies in a seismically active zone, where the Caribbean Plate and the South American Plate converge. According to the USGS, the magnitude 7.5 quake occurred “as a result of shallow strike-slip faulting near the complex plate boundary” between the two plates. Strike-slip faulting refers to the fractures on the Earth’s crust moving side to side.
Quakes above magnitude 7 in the region have also been recorded in the modern era, including a magnitude 7.3 one on Aug. 21, 2018, and a magnitude 7 one on July 9, 1997.
Promises of support pour in
Municipal police officers evacuate an injured victim from a collapsed building following an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela on June 24, 2026. —Juan Barreto—AFP/Getty ImagesMaría Corina Machado, the country’s exiled opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, posted on social media that she was praying for Venezuelans. “May strength, serenity, and solidarity prevail among us in the face of this difficult moment,” Machado wrote.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted that his department is “immediately deploying” search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela.
Brazil’s President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, posted that he has instructed the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs “to assess, together with the Brazilian Embassy in Caracas, the situation in the country and the measures of assistance that Brazil can adopt,” and reaffirmed his support for Rodríguez’s government in helping affected areas of Venezuela recover.
Colombia’s conservative President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella also took to social media to express support for Venezuela, saying: “Colombia accompanies you in this difficult hour with affection, respect, and hope.”
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