The death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela last week has surpassed 1,700, officials said, as more than 600 aftershocks continued to rattle the disaster zone and slow a vast international search for survivors around the capital, Caracas.
National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said at least 1,719 people had been confirmed killed, with around 5,000 injured and roughly 12,000 displaced. Authorities said the tremors had affected more than 22,000 people in all. The US Geological Survey estimated a 44% chance that the eventual toll could reach 10,000 or more, a measure of how much uncertainty remains as crews reach collapsed buildings.
The catastrophe began on June 24, when a magnitude 7.2 foreshock struck at 6:04 p.m. local time and was followed just 39 seconds later by a magnitude 7.5 mainshock. The two strike-slip quakes caused widespread destruction across northwestern and central Venezuela, hitting the coastal state of La Guaira and the capital hardest. Hundreds of structures collapsed entirely and many more were left uninhabitable.
Aftershocks have repeatedly complicated the response. Since the quakes struck, there have been 609 recorded aftershocks, including one felt widely on Tuesday that caused no major new damage. An earlier aftershock on June 26 brought down additional buildings in Caracas and collapsed a bridge connecting the parish of Caraballeda to the rest of La Guaira, severing a key route for relief convoys.
The scale of the disaster has drawn an unusually broad international response to a country long isolated by US and European sanctions. More than 2,000 rescue workers from 27 countries, along with over 160 search dogs, have deployed across more than 40 teams. Hundreds of US military personnel are assisting, and three to four US field hospitals have been established — a striking presence given the deep antagonism between Caracas and Washington.
Venezuela's own forces have mobilized at scale. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said more than 14,000 military personnel and over 100 pieces of heavy machinery had been deployed to La Guaira for rescue and security operations. Members of the Venezuelan diaspora in the United States, Colombia, Spain and elsewhere have organized shipments of supplies to support the relief effort.
Aid groups warned that the humanitarian needs would stretch well beyond the search phase. With thousands of homes destroyed or unsafe, displaced families crowding shelters, and water, power and medical systems strained, the recovery is expected to take months. As the days pass and hope of finding survivors fades, the focus is turning to caring for the injured and homeless and to tallying the full human cost of one of the deadliest disasters in Venezuela's modern history.