Venezuela Earthquake Update: 920 Dead, Tens of Thousands Missing

Rescue teams and Venezuelan citizens are racing against time to find survivors after two major earthquakes struck the country. As of Friday, the death toll has surpassed 900, with international aid and foreign rescue teams only beginning to arrive nearly two days after the disaster.

The government reported 920 people dead, 3,360 injured, and 172 still trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings. More than 50,000 people are also reported missing following the two quakes that hit Caracas and surrounding areas on Wednesday night. On Friday afternoon, the region was shaken again by a magnitude 4.9 aftershock, felt in the capital Caracas and the city of Maracay.

In the hardest-hit areas, including La Guaira state, the distribution of aid has been uneven. Residents and volunteers are digging through debris with their bare hands due to a lack of heavy machinery and limited presence of government personnel. One resident, Jennifer Palacios, 25, said her six-year-old son and five other family members remain buried under the rubble of the Hugo Chavez apartment complex in La Guaira. “It was the community that managed to rescue people alive,” she said. “We need them to bring cranes to move the concrete slabs. There are still people trapped.”

The disaster is also expected to have political consequences for interim President Delcy Rodriguez. She has been trying to build an image as an agent of political change, despite having served as vice president under the ousted government of Nicolas Maduro. A United Nations report estimates the direct damage from the two earthquakes, measuring magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, at around $6.7 billion. The second quake was the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century.

A Reuters journalist at the scene witnessed cracked roads and dozens of buildings reduced to piles of crushed concrete and twisted metal. Some debris was spray-painted with building names to help rescue teams identify locations. Volunteers were also transporting aid by motorcycle from Caracas and Valencia to the affected areas. Despite initially praising the volunteers, Rodriguez and other officials later urged people to stop heading to La Guaira, as traffic jams were hindering rescue operations. The government also announced road closures starting at 8 p.m. local time, except for official and registered rescue teams.

In Caraballeda, a coastal town, 73-year-old lawyer Ricardo Trias was trying to obtain a death certificate for his godson, Armando Lopez, 54, whose body was found in his apartment ruins on Thursday night but remains at the site. “We want them to hand over his body to us, we cannot take it and it will decompose here,” Trias said. “No forensic authority has arrived.” Reuters also witnessed residents in Catia la Mar, La Guaira, taking toilet paper, cooking oil, bread and other items from a damaged shop. Police, the National Guard and other authorities did not intervene in the looting.

Rodriguez, who took over the government after the US arrested her predecessor in January, has promised a large-scale humanitarian response. Meanwhile, Oil Minister Paula Henao confirmed that national oil production was not affected by the earthquakes and that fuel distribution remains guaranteed. Industry executives and workers also stated that the oil sector avoided major infrastructure damage.

International rescue teams, including from countries with historically strained relations with Venezuela, began arriving from Thursday night into Friday. Rodriguez also held telephone talks with US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday. The US government announced $150 million in aid and eased some sanctions against Venezuela. The US military has dispatched two ships and stated that helicopters and aircraft will support rescue operations.

In the coastal area of Los Corales, a 50-member rescue team from El Salvador was inspecting three collapsed 10-storey buildings using drones, thermal scanners and sniffer dogs to search for survivors. The team’s chief, Roberto Gavidia, said they were told that people could still be heard, that they were contacted by phone and answered, and that shouting and calling could still be heard. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele also shared a video on X showing the rescue team preparing to enter one of the buildings, stating that they had found a 15-year-old girl trapped with her pet on the ninth floor and were working to free her.