Powerful double earthquakes strike Venezuela causing widespread damage

On Wednesday, June 24, 2026, two major earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 struck northern Venezuela within a 39-second interval. The USGS reported the first tremor at 18:04 local time at a depth of 21.9 km, followed shortly by the second at a depth of 10 km, roughly 45 km away. Interim President Delcy Rodriguez declared a state of emergency, suspended rail services and schools, and announced the closure of the Simon Bolivar International Airport due to structural damage. While official casualty counts are currently unavailable, emergency teams are conducting search and rescue operations in Caracas and the coastal state of La Guaira, where at least 15 buildings reportedly collapsed. The USGS PAGER system estimates economic losses between 1% and 4% of the country's GDP and warns of a significant risk of thousands of fatalities. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello ordered the shutdown of natural gas supplies as a safety precaution, and a brief tsunami warning for the Caribbean coast was subsequently lifted. The United States has offered support to Venezuelan authorities to assist with the ongoing crisis.