The twin earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela have killed nearly 3,000 people, according to official figures released Saturday, as international rescue teams gradually halt the search for survivors in the rubble.

Published on: 05/07/2026 - 05:41 Modified on: 05/07/2026 - 08:31

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In Venezuela, the toll from the double earthquake that devastated the country continues to rise. At least 2,954 people were killed and 16,592 injured in this double earthquake, one of the most powerful and devastating in Latin America, according to a provisional report released on Saturday July 4 by the Venezuelan Ministry of Communications.

More than 16,000 people are homeless and 856 buildings are damaged, the ministry also said.

In La Guaira, the epicenter of the disaster forty kilometers from the capital Caracas, entire buildings were reduced to ruins on June 24. Many victims are still on the streets or precariously sheltered in parks, with no prospects.

“We continue to work, to find bodies, we continue,” assures AFP Francisco Sasquia, a 38-year-old volunteer lifeguard and translator, in front of Ocean Beach, a building in the Playa Grande district.

Machines finished throwing already collapsed structures to the ground and cleared the slabs of buildings.

Relatives of people trapped under the rubble are resigned to the use of such machines, excavators and backhoes, to recover the bodies.

“We, the families, need an end point,” says Susana Graterol, in front of a collapsed building in this neighborhood. With the machines, "they will actually find them. That would be the best, because all these days have been a very hard, exhausting process", continues this 47-year-old woman, ten of whose neighbors have not been found.

The two earthquakes occurred 39 seconds apart and mainly affected northern Venezuela, plunging the country into mourning and despair at not finding loved ones, alive or dead.

In the streets of La Guaira, foreign rescuers involved in the search are becoming increasingly rare.

Rescuers on departure

Brigades from the United States, Chile and other countries begin to prepare for departure. Among them, rescuers and firefighters from Los Angeles County as well as teams from Florida and Virginia, their members told AFP. The window for finding survivors in this type of disaster closes after 72 hours.

On Thursday, rescuers nevertheless saved a man buried eight days under the ruins, a glimmer of joy in the midst of the tragedy. Caracas was also affected: buildings collapsed but the damage was far less than in La Guaira.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the 7.5 earthquake is the strongest since 1900 to hit Venezuela, a country of nearly 30 million people with an economy in crisis.

On Saturday, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez decorated American rescue workers. “The Venezuelan people will never forget this gesture,” she told them during a ceremony.

Earlier, she had decorated rescue workers from the United Kingdom, Qatar, France, India, Barbados, Brazil and Argentina. She even presented medals to tracking dogs.

“It is universal solidarity that must inspire the people of the world,” she declared.

Delcy Rodriguez also claimed to be "in contact" with certain countries which "will contribute to the rehabilitation" of Maiquetia airport.

This airport located in La Guaira and serving Caracas was closed due to earthquake damage, then partially reopened to accommodate humanitarian flights.

The leader, at the head of Venezuela since the capture of former President Nicolas Maduro by the United States in January, is criticized for the insufficient number of rescuers and equipment before the arrival of international teams.

Tens of thousands missing

In Caraballeda, La Guaira state, hundreds of modest families lived in 12-story residential complexes known as OPP 26 and 27 (Works of Popular Power).

They are nothing more than mountains of rubble in the middle of which exhausted volunteers are struggling to recover the bodies of decimated families.

“It’s a horror film, we escaped the war, but not nature,” says Celida Sequera, a 43-year-old volunteer, her face and clothes covered in earth.

This housewife has been accompanying a friend who lost everything for eight days. His wife and three children aged 6, 10 and 12 were lying on a bed when a wall fell on them, she said. The family has finally been located.

The government has not provided figures on the missing but the UN estimates that their number could reach 50,000.

With AFP

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