Devastating Earthquakes Rock Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela—Two major earthquakes struck the coast north of Caracas at 3:05 p.m. on June 24, collapsing hundreds of buildings, knocking out electricity in the area and killing most likely thousands of people.

More than 600 buildings, many of them multi-story, collapsed and others are badly damaged. As of press time, rescue workers and survivors were digging through the rubble trying to free those still alive.

So far, about 75 percent of the electricity has been restored. Rescue teams from all over the world arrived but more heavy equipment is needed. Emergency supplies and money is pouring in from other countries. The United States upped its funding to $300 million. But at the beginning of the year, President Donald Trump ordered U.S. military forces to invade Venezuela and apprehend its president to face criminal changes here. Now, the interim president of Venezuela is being criticized for not being responsive enough to this huge disaster.

Venezuela is in an earthquake zone—two of Earth’s plates meet there. This pair of quakes is the most damaging in more than 100 years for the country. The first quake, called a “foreshock,” was a major 7.2-magnitude quake. Just 39 seconds later, the “mainshock” measured 7.5 in magnitude! More than 5,000 have been injured, 46,000 are listed on a shared info website as missing and more than 15,000 cannot return home.