Venezuela earthquake: powerful back-to-back quakes collapse buildings in capital Caracas

Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, has been struck by two powerful earthquakes that caused major damage at the international airport and brought several large buildings crashing down.The quakes – among the largest in Venezuela’s history – occurred in quick succession and were felt in many parts of the country. But the worst destruction appeared to have taken place in and around Caracas where videos on social media showed scenes of panic as passengers raced through the corridors of Maiquetía airport seeking cover from falling debris.The US Geological Survey said Venezuela had been hit by two quakes: a magnitude 7.5 “mainshock” and a 7.2 “foreshock” 39 seconds earlier. The epicentre was west of the community of Moron, located along Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, about 168 kilometres (104 miles) west of Caracas. The quake had a depth of 13 kilometres (8 miles).“A seismic event that everything suggests was considerably above 7 points has taken place. There are several complicated areas … very alarming areas from the visual point of view, with buildings and homes that have collapsed,” the interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, told the state broadcaster VTV.“Normally this kind of event is followed by aftershocks, which could also bring down some structures that were damaged by the main event,” Cabello warned, urging citizens to remain outdoors and to stay calm.A Guardian reporter saw at least three buildings that had collapsed in Altamira, an upmarket area of Caracas that is home to many foreign embassies, after the quakes hit shortly after 6pm on Wednesday afternoon.A damaged building at Los Palos Grandes, in Caracas. Photograph: Jesús Vargas/Getty ImagesSome people were reportedly trapped under the rubble although the number of victims and the death toll was not immediately clear. Outside one of the buildings a person was seen weeping and crying out the name of his grandmother who he feared was inside. Nearby rescue workers and volunteers searched for survivors.“It was horrible,” said Olky Barrero, a 56-year-old teacher, as she joined the search effort outside one of the collapsed buildings. “We hope to God that there are as few victims as possible. We’re praying.”“Where I was, it felt like the walls were going to fall on top of us, they were shaking back and forth, this way and that,” added Barrero as two victims, at least one of them still alive, were hauled out of the building’s ruins.Severe Earthquake destroys building in CaracasThick columns of dust could be seen rising from the city while images showed residents fleeing badly damaged buildings with their belongings and pets.One of the worst hit areas appeared to have been La Guaira, a port city just north of Caracas on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast. La Guaira is home to Venezuela’s main international airport, the Simón Bolívar International Airport, and is also close to some of the hillside communities that came under attack by US forces, when Donald Trump ordered the 3 January attack on Venezuela this year to abduct its president Nicolás Maduro.One large beachfront hotel in La Guaira, Eduard’s Hotel Boutique, appears to have suffered extensive damage with some videos showing parts of the building had been levelled by the quake. Nearby in Catia La Mar, Venezuela’s naval academy and a number of tall residential buildings were also severely damaged.The US embassy in Caracas urged its citizens to avoid damaged areas, not to enter damaged buildings and to seek secure shelter.Emergency services work at the site of a collapsed building in Caracas. Photograph: Gaby Oráa/Reuters“There are many injured people inside. It’s a disaster,” one man could be heard saying in footage shot outside a building that had collapsed in San Bernardino, an area of northern Caracas.In Baruta, a suburb of Caracas, civil defence workers used stretchers to carry victims from shattered buildings after a landslide triggered by the Earthquake.Baruta’s mayor, Darwin González, posted social media footage of a woman being recused from the rubble. “We call on people to remain calm and civil at this time,” he wrote.The exiled opposition leader and Nobel laureate, María Corina Machado, wrote on X: “My heart, my infinite embrace, and 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.”