{"id":202,"date":"2026-06-26T11:37:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T11:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=202"},"modified":"2026-06-26T11:37:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T11:37:31","slug":"death-toll-in-venezuela-climbs-to-235-after-powerful-quakes-with-at-least-4300-injured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=202","title":{"rendered":"Death toll in Venezuela climbs to 235 after powerful quakes, with at least 4,300 injured"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) \u2014 In cities across northern\u00a0Venezuela, neighbors helped each other dig through rubble to search for loved ones, after back-to-back\u00a0earthquakes\u00a0that officials say killed more than 230 people and left thousands injured.<\/p>\n

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The official death toll rose to around 235 late Thursday, with at least 4,300 people injured, Venezuela Health Minister Carlos Alvarado told state media. The number of casualties is expected to climb, with thousands reported missing and frantic rescue efforts continuing.<\/p>\n

The 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude\u00a0earthquakes that struck Wednesday\u00a0evening were among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and were felt throughout the region.<\/p>\n

The International Organization for Migration said that up to 6.76 million people in Venezuela could be affected by the quakes, some 2 million of them in Caracas alone. Loyce Pace, the International Red Cross\u2019 regional director for the Americas, said that \u201cpeople are still terrified to reenter what were their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The injured were pulled out, covered in dust and blood, among them children. Venezuelan state TV showed dramatic images of rescues, including a woman who was trapped under a cement slab with only a bare foot poking out before rescuers slid her out alive. But few government search teams were initially seen outside Caracas.<\/p>\n

The coastal region of La Guaira, north of the capital Caracas, suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties. The country\u2019s main airport is there and was closed due to damage, complicating aid efforts.<\/p>\n

Venezuelans reeling from quakes<\/h2>\n

Many were stunned Thursday morning as they saw buildings reduced to skeletons, furniture hanging out of windows, and helicopters circling overhead. Buildings were flattened, and streets cracked open.<\/p>\n

Families posted missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones, while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched. Venezuelans abroad struggled to make contact with relatives due to interrupted phone service in the country.<\/p>\n

In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots and other open spaces.<\/p>\n

Mother of three Dayana Delgado asked where the heavy machinery was that government officials had promised, and said residents were the ones digging through crumpled buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to know where my child is, if he\u2019s trapped or in a shelter,\u201d she said of her missing 8-year-old son.<\/p>\n

One mother sobbed and collapsed in grief as the bodies of her 3- and 10-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and carried away. Others screamed the names of the missing. Some stood in silent shock.<\/p>\n

Venezuelan authorities said they were diverting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which is no stranger to natural disasters: A 1999 mudslide killed thousands and is considered one of the country\u2019s worst natural disasters.<\/p>\n

In La Guaira, Cristian Carre\u00f1o stared at his charred apartment building tilting precariously to one side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lost everything,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn\u2019t get out. It\u2019s incredibly devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Menda\u00f1o climbed through wreckage in La Guaira and past a dead body when he spotted a woman who was trapped and signaling with her hand for help.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay God rescue her as quickly as possible,\u201d Menda\u00f1o said. \u201cWhen we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Media reports have shared notable moments of hope among the destruction, including a young man brought out on a stretcher in the San Bernardino district of Caracas to the applause of onlookers as his tearful mother said, \u201cLeandro, I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Venezuelan public television broadcast video of a girl covered in dust and wrapping herself in a dark sweatshirt as she emerged from rubble with the help of rescuers. Caracas metropolitan rescue team head Jos\u00e9 Luis N\u00fa\u00f1ez said she was found in a 10-story building in La Guaira that collapsed and flattened \u201clike a pancake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to highlight this girl\u2019s strength, determination and will to live,\u201d N\u00fa\u00f1ez said.<\/p>\n

Government and rescuers face huge challenges<\/h2>\n

The natural disaster is the latest challenge for acting President\u00a0Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the capture and removal from power of then-President\u00a0Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u00a0by the United States. Venezuela has been facing\u00a0economic disarray\u00a0for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of\u00a0the political movement Rodr\u00edguez represents.<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes.<\/p>\n

She appealed to businesses Thursday to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to rescue as many living people as possible,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Geological Survey said both earthquakes were centered near Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 105 miles west of Caracas.<\/p>\n

The one-two punch of the quakes, combined with the shallow seismic movements, amplified the destruction, said Marcos Ferreira, a geophysicist and researcher at the Geological Survey of Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is as if I am screaming and then someone starts screaming, too. That amplifies the vibration and adds to the potential hazard,\u201d Ferreira said.<\/p>\n

Shortly after United Nations officials in Venezuela called on the government to lift social media restrictions so people can get potentially life-saving information, Venezuelans in the country were able to access X. The site had been blocked by Maduro since August 2024 in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information among those who rejected his claim of victory in the\u00a0July presidential election.<\/p>\n

Foreign governments offer assistance<\/h2>\n

Some 1,000 emergency responders in 25 search-and-rescue teams from across the globe are deploying to Venezuela, said Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.<\/p>\n

U.S. Secretary of State\u00a0Marco Rubio, who spoke to Rodr\u00edguez following the quake, said the United States was immediately deploying assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a whole-of-government response. It\u2019ll be big; it\u2019ll be fast; and it\u2019ll be effective,\u201d Rubio said, while acknowledging the closure of Venezuela\u2019s main airport near Caracas created logistical challenges.<\/p>\n

Venezuelan public television on Friday showed the arrival of rescue workers, dogs and equipment, including cameras and ground-penetrating radar from Spain. Earlier, rescuers from Chile arrived at a military base in Aragua, while a team of 80 specialists and eight search dogs from Switzerland also landed. Turkey announced two flights will leave Istanbul on Friday with military, medical and rescue personnel and a pair of search dogs. China also said it will provide assistance. Leaders from Qatar, Brazil, Portugal and Canada vowed to send help.<\/p>\n

Rescue teams from El Salvador and the Dominican Republic arrived in Venezuela on Thursday, along with rescuers and material aid from Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo country is prepared to provide the response that\u2019s needed. That\u2019s what neighboring countries are there for,\u201d Dominican Air Force Maj. Carlos Olivares said.<\/p>\n

Read more Barack Obama says Trump gives him a \u2018room in his head\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The number of casualties is expected to climb. Thousands are reported missing, and frantic rescue efforts continued into Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\nDeath toll in Venezuela climbs to 235 after powerful quakes, with at least 4,300 injured - Long Distance Movers USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=202\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Death toll in Venezuela climbs to 235 after powerful quakes, with at least 4,300 injured - Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The number of casualties is expected to climb. 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