Venezuela was early Wednesday hit by 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes which toppled dozens of buildings, killed at least 32 people and injured at least 700 others, the authorities said.
Rescue Efforts Underway
The disaster added to the country’s already severe political and economic turmoil.
One of the quakes was the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century, and the full scale of the damage was not immediately clear early
President Delcy Rodríguez announced the initial toll of deaths and injuries on television but noted that it did not include the worst-hit state of La Guaira where dozens of buildings had collapsed.
The earthquakes hit in the evening of a holiday celebrating an 1821 battle that eventually led to Venezuela’s independence from Spain. Schools were closed and when the quakes struck, many Venezuelans were at home because they did not go to work on Wednesday.
Internet connectivity dropped significantly in Venezuela after the earthquakes, according to network data from the monitoring group NetBlocks. Connectivity appeared to drop from over 90 percent to around 65 percent, the data showed.
The United States and several Latin American countries said they would send humanitarian aid and rescue personnel to Venezuela, after two major earthquakes struck west of Caracas on Wednesday night, killing at least 32 and injuring hundreds more.
“I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly. We will be there for our new and great friends,” President Trump wrote in a social media post on Wednesday night.
American Airlines, which operates two daily flights between Miami and Caracas, said that it has suspended its operations at Simón Bolívar International Airport.
The Venezuelan authorities closed the airport, which serves the capital, after it suffered heavy damage during the earthquakes.
Venezuela’s health system has struggled with resource constraints for years, making rescue efforts more challenging, said Dan Hovey, vice president of emergency response at Direct Relief, a California-based humanitarian organization that provides aid to Venezuela.
Road closures, power outages and communication disruptions also create logistical hurdles for delivering aid, he said.
The government of Curaçao said people on the Caribbean island nation also felt tremors from the earthquakes in Venezuela.
There were no immediate reports of any serious damage there. Curaçao lies around 40 miles off the Venezuelan coast and is about 110 miles north of the quake epicenters.
Rodríguez said that hotels and shelters were available for those who lost their homes or whose homes were damaged by the earthquakes.
In her televised address, Delcy Rodríguez urged the public to report missing people or damage to their homes through a government platform that is typically used to track utility outages.
Separately, Venezuelans have reported hundreds of missing people on a non-official website.
Others are sharing details about the missing on social media groups.
President Delcy Rodríguez said that rescue teams would start arriving in Venezuela within hours from the United States, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico and Qatar.
She added China, Brazil and several Caribbean nations have also offered support.
President Delcy Rodríguez of Venezuela said in a televised address that at least 32 people had been reported dead and more than 700 others were injured.
Rodríguez said the worst-hit place was the state of La Guaira, where she said dozens of buildings had collapsed.
The death and injury toll so far does not include La Guaira, she added
There were widespread disruptions to public infrastructure in Venezuela, President Delcy Rodríguez said in her first remarks after the quakes hit.
Officials shut off domestic gas supplies in the affected areas, and water service was disrupted in parts of Caracas and several northern states, she said.
There were power outages in Caracas, the capital, and the state of La Guaira but the grid remained functional in the rest of Venezuela.Subway and rail services were suspended for rescue and recovery efforts, and Simón Bolívar International Airport, which serves the capital, was closed after it suffered heavy damage, Rodríguez added.
Classes were canceled at schools for the rest of the week.
President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic said that military teams specialized in search and rescue as well as emergency care would leave for Venezuela early on Thursday to help the Venezuelan authorities.
President Trump said he was mobilizing U.S. assistance to Venezuela.
“The U.S.A. stands ready, willing, and able to help!” he wrote on social media.
“I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly. We will be there for our new and great friends. Early reports are not good!!!”
The magnitude 7.5 earthquake in Venezuela on Wednesday was the largest to strike the country or just off its coast since 1900, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake was recorded near the coast of the South American country on Oct. 29, 1900, according to the U.S.G.S. catalog.
Emergency workers said they had recovered the bodies of two people from a collapsed building in Pinto Salinas, a working-class neighborhood on the hilly ridges just north of the city center in Caracas.
The workers said late on Wednesday night that their teams were still trying to recover other bodies from the rubble.
A video circulating widely on social media and verified by The Times shows a hotel reduced to rubble in the city of La Guaira, north of Caracas.
