The Quintero family crowded around their new home this week after two deadly earthquakes forced them to flee their apartment building in Caracas.

Francisco Quintero reserved the seats of his small, beat-up car for his children, while the trunk is now home to Paquito, their green-and-red parakeet, and a handful of pet turtles.

Editorial | ​Tragic evening: On the earthquake in Venezuela

Mr. Quintero, a musician, said he and other adults in the family search nightly for a place to sleep near the car “until we get an answer about what they might do with us.”

The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes that throttled Venezuela on Wednesday (June 24, 2026) evening just 39 seconds apart toppled buildings in Caracas and beyond, with hundreds of homes damaged. The number of confirmed dead — already in the hundreds — is expected to rise as frantic search-and-rescue missions continue.

Thousands of Venezuelans left suddenly homeless have since poured into parks, plazas and even the shoulders of blocked highways, looking for a place to lay their heads. The latest crisis in this nation of roughly 30 million comes after decades of economic struggle. More than half of the population lives in extreme poverty and nearly 8 million were already in need of humanitarian aid before the quakes struck.

In Guaira — the hardest hit state just north of Caracas — families placed sheets on a dusty baseball field to claim their space, their belongings stuffed into plastic bags. Others sought shelter under palm trees. Among them was 35-year-old Alexandra Martínez and her two children.

“The apartment is completely wrecked,” she said as she wiped away tears. “The walls, the kitchen, everything, are destroyed. It split right down the middle.”

Similar scenes played out across Caracas.

“We have nowhere to live,” Desiré Gil said. “This is the only option we have for the moment.”

The 37-year-old mother of four children, including one who is six months pregnant, now lives atop a small, grassy plaza with her family.

Nearby, people used backpacks as pillows and opened colorful beach umbrellas for shade as helicopters buzzed overhead.

Ms. Gil’s residence did not fall, but parts are crumbling and she refuses to go back: “Our fear is that the building might collapse on top of us.”

Like many others, she’s waiting for Venezuela’s civil protection agency to inspect cracked and crumbling buildings and determine if they’re still safe to live in.

But it’s unclear when those inspections might start. The government is still focused on saving lives, with thousands believed missing across Venezuela’s northern region, where the quakes killed at least 920 people and injured more than 3,300 others.

Ms. Gil, who sells mangos and other goods for a living, said her pregnant daughter had contractions and went to the hospital on Thursday, only to be turned away. A portion of the maternity ward had collapsed, and the hospital was already overflowing with patients sent by other institutions.

The Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters, but it wasn’t clear how many. For now, Gil said she and her family would live atop the grassy mound “until the government gives us an answer.”

Experts have said they are not surprised at the crumpled buildings.

José Rangel, a civil engineer and university professor, noted that more than 50% of Caracas was built before 1982, the year the government approved a new construction code for seismic zones.

“Everything that we’ve built before that year is seismically vulnerable,” he told state TV station Venezolana de Televisión.

Mr. Rangel said he and other engineers were working on seismic retrofitting plans and prioritizing the evaluation of schools, hospitals, bridges and other infrastructure before the earthquakes hit.

He called on the government to rebuild stronger and apply existing recommendations, warning it could take weeks to evaluate buildings and determine if they’re safe.

“It’s a process that lies ahead,” Mr. Rangel said. “Right now, the most important issue is rescuing people.”

He called on engineers, architects and others to join upcoming inspection efforts.

“The causes of the collapse must be determined,” he said. “It’s how we learn lessons after an earthquake.”

Magaly Noguera and her family are among the Venezuelans awaiting an inspection. They live in a high-rise that was damaged, with Noguera recalling how she and her son, along with his wife and 3-year-old child, hugged each other under the kitchen door frame until they could run downstairs to a safer place.

“That day, the descent seemed endless to me,” she said. “I don’t want to be in my house.”

They now sleep outside near a government building, surrounded by others in the same situation.

Across the street, a man lugged a mattress on his left shoulder while his partner carried several pillows under her right arm. Nestled between them was a small child as they walked to parts unknown.

Published – June 27, 2026 04:00 am IST

Venezuelans took the search for missing loved ones into their own hands Friday (June 26, 2026) in the aftermath of back-to-back earthquakes, citing the scarcity of government rescuers, as the human toll of the disaster climbed to at least 920 dead and more than 51,000 missing.

Citizens digging through the rubble of their homes said they have seen few state rescue teams in the areas hit hardest by the devastating 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes that struck late Wednesday (June 24, 2026), despite authorities projecting an image of a robust government response.

Editorial |​Tragic evening: On the earthquake in Venezuela

The lack of help compounded families’ desperation as the pressure to find buried survivors increased with each passing hour. The South American nation on Friday (June 26, 2026) marked nearly two days since the disaster. Aid agencies consider the first 48 to 72 hours to be a crucial time frame to retrieve people alive, though that period can be extended if they have access to food and water.

On Friday (June 26, 2026) night, Venezuelan authorities announced they would block off access to La Guaira, the epicenter of the destruction, as chaos and and traffic began to affect search efforts. Government officials said that those who wanted to enter would now have to seek official permits, but provided few details of who would be allowed to enter.

Meanwhile, a broad international aid effort accelerated, with dozens of rescue teams from around the globe arriving in Venezuela or due to arrive there soon.

“Each person saved is a miracle,” said Jorge Rodríguez, the president of the country’s National Assembly. “We are not going to hide absolutely anything about the magnitude of this tragedy.”

Families across northern Venezuela searched in the ruins of buildings for relatives and whatever remained of their lives.

Nazareth Jimenez sobbed into the shoulder of a loved one as she watched neighbors try to cut through slabs of concrete with hammers and power tools in a building reduced to a mountain of debris. “My God, how are we going to get them out of there?” she murmured.

She was in the northern state of La Guaira, just north of the capital of Caracas, where some of the worst destruction unfolded. Jimenez was wracked with anxiety as she waited to see if her siblings, nephews, nieces and friends would emerge from the debris alive.

“We’re making a call for help to the government and countries across the world,” she said, pleading for machines that would be capable of moving collapsed structures. “There are still people alive in there.”

Government forces distributed food and water to survivors in La Guaira as acting President Delcy Rodríguez said her government was mounting a full response during these “critical hours for rescuing people alive.” She welcomed the arrival of rescuers and humanitarian aid from all over the world. She said La Guaira had been militarized and that more help was on the way, even as residents said it was just a fraction of the aid they needed.

The disaster poses a huge challenge for Rodríguez, the former Vice-President who took office in January after the capture and removal of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the United States. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents.

The number of dead was expected to climb, and civilians reported tens of thousands of people missing on independent digital databases. The number of missing likely includes those who have been incommunicado due to the lack of cellphone signals in disaster zones. Some reports may be duplicates created when multiple loved ones are searching for the same person.

The number of injured climbed to more than 3,300 as of midday on Friday (June 26, 2026), and authorities said they had rescued 243 people.

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. Destruction was amplified by the one-two punch of the successive shallow quakes, experts said. Loyce Pace, the International Red Cross’ regional director for the Americas, said “people are still terrified to reenter what were their homes.”

Desperation started to sink in Friday (June 26, 2026) as many families still had not found missing loved ones, continued to sleep on the street or grieved relatives killed in the disaster.

“I’ve been left alone in this life,” said Omar Reyes, who walked through the rubble where two of his children were buried. He said around 20 family members died in the disaster.

In the city of Maiquetía, people lined up outside convenience and grocery stores and pharmacies as the businesses served customers one by one behind closed doors. At one point, a woman in a crowd desperate to keep a package of diapers threw herself to the ground to protect the package with her body.

Traffic and throngs of motorcyclists at times also disrupted search efforts. Mexican soldiers and volunteers repeatedly had to ask for silence to try to hear signs of life under the ruble, but bikers — civilian and uniformed — often ignored the requests honking horns and revved their engines to the frustration of first responders.

In Catia La Mar, a community adjacent to the country’s main airport, throngs of people began to loot basic goods such as toilet paper and food from stores. Others swarmed a civilian pickup truck that was giving out loaves of bread and water, until a soldier intervened. People turned the parking lot of a pharmacy into makeshift shelter by setting up tarps, hammocks and tents.

A few miles away, Yuleidy Cadenas stood across the street from a collapsed public housing building watching fellow Venezuelans and recently arrived foreign and local emergency crews work on the rubble. She hoped her son, mother and brother would be pulled out alive.

She fled, barefoot, from a collapsing nearby building Wednesday (June 24, 2026) and found her mother’s 12th-floor apartment tower had pancaked. Cadenas, 28, sobbed as she recalled that Friday (June 26, 2026) was her son’s 12th birthday.

“I got on top of the rubble and told them to yell back, and nobody did, not my brother, nor my son or my mother,” Ms. Cadenas said. “I’m just here waiting for them.”

A few minutes later, a body was pulled from the rubble. It was not her mother’s.

Venezuela authorities said Friday (June 26, 2026) that 861 international volunteers from Mexico, the U.S., El Salvador, Switzerland, Colombia and beyond were working in Venezuela. Many more from other countries were expected in the coming hours and days. The U.N. said 1,000 emergency responders in 25 search-and-rescue teams from across the globe were on their way.

Acting President Ms. Rodríguez said she spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday afternoon, and that they reaffirmed their commitment to sending rescue teams and aid equipment.

On the country’s main highway, caravans of state forces, emergency personnel, dump trucks and heavy machinery moved in the direction of the tragedy. A civilian pickup truck carrying thin mattresses had its windows marked with “Help from Trujillo.”

Venezuelans in the U.S. rushed to organize donation drives on Thursday (June 25, 2026) after devastating earthquakes that officials say killed at least 188 people and injured hundreds more in their home country. The United States government and other countries also pledged aid.

Oscar Torres and thousands of others spent the last 24 hours keeping up with a flurry of messages posted to a WhatsApp group that connects people in Venezuela with their families. He lives in Doral, Florida, a city outside Miami that’s home to the largest Venezuelan population in the U.S.

“Already this morning, I was looking at the group in Doral and everybody’s pitching in — money, medicine, water. First, necessity items,” said Torres, a sales manager who moved to the U.S. from Venezuela in 1995. “They’re talking about making the first shipment ASA

In Washington, the Trump administration said it’s sending $150 million to support relief efforts by aid groups and the United Nations, according to a U.S. State Department news release.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government was mobilizing a disaster response team to Venezuela that includes two urban search and rescue teams from fire departments in Fairfax County, Virginia, and Los Angeles. The U.S. military, which seized Venezuela’s then-president Nicolas Maduro in a surprise January drug arrest, will provide aircraft to help assess damage, assist searches and deliver aid.

Other countries including Mexico and Colombia also promised assistance.

The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes Wednesday night caused severe damage to the country’s main airport in the capital of Caracas, which could hamper efforts to get aid into the country quickly. The quakes were among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century.

In photos and videos of the aftermath, injured children, animals and civilians are seen covered in dust and blood being pulled out of concrete rubble.

In addition to those killed and injured, thousands more were reported missing — leaving many families members in the U.S. scrambling for updates. More than 7,70,000 Venezuelans live in the U.S., with large communities settling in Texas and Utah, in addition to Florida.

In the Houston area, home to a large Venezuelan community, residents used community Facebook groups and other social media to spread the word about local donation sites. First aid and medical supplies such as gauze, bandages, antiseptics, disposable gloves, face masks, syringes, thermometers and blood pressure monitors all were in demand.

Local resident Daniel Arenas translated a Spanish-language post into English and shared it Thursday (June 25, 2026) on his LinkedIn page hoping people across Houston would step up and donate.

“I came to this country 10 years ago, built a life here, but my heart is still in Venezuela,” Arenas said. “It’s devastating what’s happening over there. They don’t have the resources to handle this.”

Arenas, a maritime industry consultant, said that his wife is concerned about her aunt, who lives in a high-rise apartment in Caracas and sent a distraught message on WhatsApp after the quakes hit.

“She was crying and screaming and saying she was in pain but not sure from where,” Arenas said. “She said she lost everything. She was desperate.”

Arenas said his wife was later able to reach her aunt.

Many of the sites mobilizing donations are in Katy, a suburb about 30 miles (48 km) west of downtown Houston that’s earned the nickname “Katyzuela” because of its high concentration of Venezuelans.

Also read: Venezuela earthquake updates on June 25, 2026

Luis Angarita, who lives in Katy, said his younger sister and family were forced to sleep outside in a park after their home was damaged in the mountain community of Caribia, some 6 miles (10 kilometers) northwest of Caracas.

Angarita’s sister told him in a WhatsApp message that she’s trying to get everyone to their father’s home on the other side of the capital. But no taxis or buses are running and roads leading out of their mountain community are closed.

“Thank God they’re safe,” Angarita said in Spanish. “There are many displaced people and others are stuck in their homes, unable to leave. They need help.”

In Florida, workers for the Doral-based aid group Global Empowerment Mission on Thursday packed medical supplies, toiletries, cases of bottled water and nonperishable foods to be sent to Venezuela.

Despite damage to airports and roads, the aid group doesn’t foresee delays getting supplies into Venezuela, said Billy Richardson, the group’s U.S. logistics director.

“Sometimes it means using other airports, other means of transport, or even coming into other countries,” Richardson said by email.

Torres planned to contribute money for relief efforts. He still has uncles and cousins who live in Caracas and Valencia, another hard-hit Venezuelan city. He said some of them were injured as they fled buildings during the quakes.

“Their homes are destroyed and a few buildings have collapsed,” Torres said. “Thankfully, I don’t know anyone who passed away.”

Published – June 26, 2026 05:04 am IST

Venezuelans searched for survivors beneath collapsed buildings Thursday (June 25, 2026) and rescue teams raced to northern areas rocked by a pair of powerful earthquakes that officials say killed at least 188 people and left more than 200 trapped.

More were feared dead from the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday (June 24, 2026) evening — among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and felt throughout the region. Some 1,500 people were injured, thousands were reported missing and buildings were evacuated as far away as Brazil’s Amazon.

In response to the devastation, the U.S. Treasury on Thursday (June 25, 2026) moved to waive some sanctions until Oct. 23 to allow transactions related to earthquake relief efforts in Venezuela that would otherwise be prohibited.

Meanwhile, in cities across northern Venezuela, panicked residents poured into the streets and searched for the missing in the debris. Injured children, animals and civilians covered in dust and blood were pulled out of concrete rubble.

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 missing loved ones. Some stood in silent shock.

The coastal region of La Guaira — north of the capital, Caracas — suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties, and it’s there that the country’s main airport was damaged and closed, complicating aid efforts.

Retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendaño 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.

“May God rescue her as quickly as possible,” said Mendaño. “When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.”

Offers to send aid and supplied poured in from around the world, including from the United States, which seized Venezuela’s then-president Nicolas Maduro at the beginning of the year in a surprise military operation.

The natural disaster is just the latest challenge for acting President Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after Mr. Maduro’s capture. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Ms. Rodriguez represents.

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 there, considered one of the country’s worst natural disasters, killed thousands.

Ms. Rodríguez appealed to businesses Thursday (June 25, 2026) to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations, while a United Nations spokesperson said search and rescue teams were just hours away.

“We’re here for the families, and we extend our solidarity to them. We hope to rescue as many living people as possible,” said Ms. Rodríguez, who referred to La Guaira as a “disaster zone.”

Jorge Rodriguez, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly and brother of the acting president, gave updated figures for the numbers of dead, trapped and injured.

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.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, hit west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas. It had a depth of 22 kilometers (about 14 miles). Just a minute later, USGS reported a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake, with a depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) and an epicenter 16 kilometers (10 miles) southwest of Moron.

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.

“It is as if I am screaming and then someone starts screaming, too. That amplifies the vibration and adds to the potential hazard,” Ferreira said.

During the quakes, people ran from swaying buildings. Many were stunned Thursday (June 25, 2026) morning as they saw buildings reduced to skeletons, furniture hanging out of windows and helicopters circling overhead.

In La Guaira, Cristian Carreño stared at his charred apartment building tilting precariously to one side.

“I lost everything,” he said. “There are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn’t get out. It’s incredibly devastating.”

Dayana Delgado, mother of three children, said she was desperate because her 8-year-old son was missing. Delgado asked where the heavy machinery was that government officials had promised, pointing out that neighbors were the ones digging through the rubble.

“I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said.

Authorities warned people against returning to homes with structural damage. In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots and other open spaces.

“We were afraid the buildings would collapse on us,” said María Cristina Díaz, a 41-year-old janitor. “My mother, my daughter and I were cold. We didn’t sleep a wink.”

Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone service, Ms. Rodríguez said. Subway services were suspended and natural gas was shut off, she said. Classes will also be canceled for several days, and the Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters and donation centers.

Families began posting missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones, while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched for those still unaccounted for. Venezuelans living abroad struggled to make contact with relatives.

Shortly after U.N. 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 Mr. Maduro since August 2024, in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information among those who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential election.

Ms. Rodríguez 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.

Leaders from Mexico, Qatar, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Canada and more expressed solidarity with and vowed to send aid to Venezuela. A number of shipments were already on the way Thursday (June 25, 2026). Aid included emergency and military personnel, canine and search teams, medical supplies, water purifiers, airplanes and drones.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke to Ms. Rodríguez following the quake, said the United States was “immediately” deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources other assistance, though he acknowledged the closure of Venezuela’s main airport created logistical challenges.

“We have a whole-of-government response. It’ll be big; it’ll be fast; and it’ll be effective,” Mr. Rubio said.

Nearly 24 hours after devastating ​twin earthquakes in Venezuela, people in the coastal city of La Guaira were still using their hands to dig through ‌rubble, trying to rescue their neighbors.

“We are trying to help with what we can, ​but there is a lack of equipment,” said Carlos Borges, who said he was frustrated ⁠by the shortage of machinery like backhoes to move the piles of concrete slabs that were once high-rise apartment buildings.

His team pulled three people from one building, as other anxious family members, including the single mother of a missing teenage boy, waited ‌at the site on Thursday (June 25, 2026) morning. U.S. Geological Survey models suggested deaths could exceed 10,000 after two powerful earthquakes wreaked havoc in and around the capital Caracas on Wednesday. The government of acting ‌President Delcy Rodriguez has confirmed nearly 200 dead and 1,520 injured.

Residents of La Guaira, a popular spot ‌for ⁠beachgoers and the worst-hit city in the country, and Moron, near the quakes’ epicenter, were scrambling ⁠amid limited official help.

“Is it not possible to call in the military? Everyone come, come and pitch in. Put them in an armored vehicle and come help the people. Find tractors wherever you can,” said Argenis Martinez, a resident of La Guaira’s Los Corales neighborhood, who ​was looking for a relative among the ‌rubble.

Some rubble caught fire overnight, despite a cut to domestic gas service. Terrified residents, many with nowhere else to go, huddled in the streets or peered into destroyed buildings, looking for survivors.

The government, which said 250 buildings had been damaged or destroyed, mainly in La Guaira, has said aid is on the way ‌from Spain, the United States, Mexico and Qatar and called on the private sector to lend equipment ​like backhoes to help with rescue efforts.

At other places in La Guaira, neighbors pulled two dead people from a house, including a little girl, and saved a mother and two ⁠children, injured but alive, from a destroyed apartment building.

Reuters witnesses saw members of a colectivo — ruling party-allied motorcycle groups who have long been accused of abusing protesters at anti-government rallies — assisting rescue efforts at at least one location.

“My building is ‌uninhabitable and now I have nothing. It’s just me and my son, and I have no family in the country,” said Suhayl Sarquiz, 50, who lost her job a few months ago.

Looting at stores

In some areas of La Guaira, people were looking for food and water, and a Reuters team witnessed looting at at least two stores.

The city’s Jose Maria Vargas Hospital was overflowing with injured, and some patients were being tended to outside, where police were limiting access to the building. Officials there said they had no information for journalists.

“It’s a tragedy,” ‌said Beatriz Rodriguez, 60, whose nephew’s legs were amputated at the hospital after being crushed in the quakes. Another nephew, age 6, ​was killed.

The armed forces are deploying field hospitals to La Guaira, its command said in a press release, and will be able to perform emergency surgeries. A Reuters team in ⁠the city on Thursday saw a military convoy near the local stadium carrying out aid efforts.

Hospitals elsewhere were also struggling.

As ⁠he worked through a 24-hour emergency shift at the modest hospital in Moron, Dr. Augusto Ramirez found himself short of basic supplies.

“We need blood pressure monitors, gauze, thermometers, gloves, plaster, painkillers — everything,” Ramirez ‌told Reuters.

He, two fellow doctors and other staff had treated 112 people since the quakes collapsed houses and cut off electricity and water in the town. Nine have died from skull fractures and other injuries, including ​three children. 

Published – June 26, 2026 04:57 am IST