Venezuela earthquake death toll rises to around 589

The death toll from ⁠twin earthquakes in Venezuela more than doubled Friday to 589, interim president Delcy Rodriguez said, as rescuers boosted by international teams raced to find survivors beneath collapsed buildings.

Rescuers used heavy machinery but also just bare hands in a race to pluck out people caught under rubble in the earthquake zone west of the capital Caracas.

At one of the flattened buildings, AFP saw workers using sledgehammers to break the debris and calling for “absolute silence” to detect cries from survivors.

Also read: Venezuela Earthquake LIVE updates

However, the abrupt increase in the official toll was only expected to keep rising.

“Regrettably, we now have 589 people who died,” Delcy Rodriguez, acting president of Venezuela, told a televised meeting with military and civilian officials. The previous official toll had been 235, while Health Minister Carlos Alvarado said late on Thursday (June 25, 2026) that another 4,300 people were listed as injured.

Help has begun to arrive, with Salvadoran, Swiss and Mexican rescue teams already on the ground, as well as a senior U.S. military official landing in Caracas to oversee Washington’s relief efforts.

Nations around the world have pledged to send rescuers, money and aid, with the United States saying it was deploying two warships, transport planes and helicopters and mobilizing $150 million in aid.

In the worst-hit state of La Guaira, north of Caracas, Amparo del Giudice dug with her bare hands at a huge mound of concrete in search of her son.

“It is a lot of rock, and with bare hands it is impossible,” she said, exasperated and flailing at the rubble.

Elsewhere, a young girl died after crying out for help for hours as onlookers listened helplessly, local residents told AFP.

“We need people... military personnel, to come and help so we can get her out,” said resident Dani Rizo, 48.

Earthquakes of similar magnitude claimed more than 200,000 lives in Haiti in January 2010 and 73,000 lives in Kashmir in October 2005.

Few resources, looting

The dead include foreigners, with nine Portuguese nationals, three Spaniards, two Brazilians, two Chinese nationals and one Italian-Venezuelan so far among those killed.

Fifty-six Portuguese citizens and 99 Spaniards were missing or otherwise unaccounted for, according to their respective governments.

Aerial photographs of La Guaira posted on social media showed one crumpled residential complex after another.

A rescue worker, speaking off the record, told AFP conditions were precarious, with a shortage of trained personnel and significant technical limitations.

AFP reporters witnessed residents looting a local supermarket in the city.

Venezuela’s director of the International Rescue Committee, Nicole Kast, described the situation as catastrophic.

Rescue teams head to heavily damaged coastal region

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 on Thursday to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations.

“We hope to rescue as many living people as possible,” said Ms. Rodríguez, who referred to La Guaira as a “disaster zone.” She said the first rescuers from the Dominican Republic were about to land and more from other countries were expected to arrive in the coming hours.

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 kilometres west of Caracas. It had a depth of 22 kilometres. Just a minute later, USGS reported a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake, with a depth of 10 kilometres and an epicentre 16 kilometres 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,” Mr. Ferreira said.

Venezuela residents reeling from quakes

During the quakes, people ran from swaying buildings. Many were stunned on Thursday 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.” 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 cancelled for several days, and the Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters and donation centres.

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

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 July presidential election.

Airport closed

Offers of support poured in from around the world, with Switzerland, Spain, France, Portugal and Mexico among those sending specialists and rescue teams.

China, India, Brazil and war-battered Iran all offered help, while Pope Leo XIV has sent an initial 100,000 euros (around $114,050) in aid.

The United States is especially closely involved in oil-rich Venezuela after having ousted and arrested president Nicolas Maduro in January.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply saddened” by the disaster as the global body vowed to assist Venezuela.

Threatening to complicate relief efforts, the capital’s main international airport is in La Guaira and has been closed after suffering serious damage.

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Maria Corina Machado called for the release of “all political prisoners, both civilians and military personnel,” saying they should reunite with loved ones as the country is mourning.

Venezuela’s northern coast sits on a boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates, but has not experienced a significant quake since 1997, when 73 people died. Another quake in 1967 killed 236 people.

Wednesday’s 7.5-magnitude earthquake was the most powerful since October 29, 1900, when a 7.7-magnitude tremor struck offshore.

This week’s quake was felt in neighboring Colombia, where residents in Bogota evacuated buildings as a precaution.

Tremors were also reported in several cities in northern Brazil, according to the country’s seismic monitoring network.