The socialist government of Venezuela has documented 1,450 people killed by twin massive earthquakes last week, over 3,000 injured, and potentially upwards of 50,000 people missing as international rescue missions deploy to the South American nation.
Venezuela suffered two earthquakes, one magnitude 7.2 and one 7.5, on Wednesday night, centered in La Guaira state. The earthquakes devastated La Guaira and parts of the capital, Caracas, resulting in large numbers of collapsed buildings and the destruction of much of what remains of the dilapidated Venezuelan power grid. After over 25 years of socialism, Venezuela does not have a functional healthcare system or emergency services, and early videos from the sight of the disaster showed desperate victims using the flashlights on their mobile phones as emergency gear, trying to peer into the rubble of former buildings to find people trapped.
The government of the United States was among the first to respond to the calamity, coordinating with interim President Delcy Rodríguez to deploy emergency search and rescue teams as soon as possible by using world class military aircraft to overcome the challenge of the earthquakes destroying the runways at La Guaira’s airport. Other countries such as Chile, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India, Spain, and Mexico, as well as international aid organizations, have since organized humanitarian missions to help with both the search and rescue operations and caring for survivors.
The scale of the devastation remains uncertain at press time. According to the Venezuelan socialist regime, hundreds of people are believed to be missing. The Emirati newspaper The National reported on Monday, however, that anti-socialist opposition members compiled a list of about 50,000 people whose whereabouts have been unknown since the earthquakes, which corresponds with what Telemundo reported was a United Nations estimate of the number of missing people as of Monday.
Venezuela has historically been vulnerable to massive earthquakes, though typically not more than two per century; the 7.5-magnitude quake on Wednesday was the most severe documented in the country since 1900. The deadliest earthquake before the current one in the past century occurred in 1967 and was accompanied by a devastating tsunami that left 245 people dead and thousands injured. The number of dead is expected to be significantly higher this time around as the 1967 earthquake was estimated to be 6.6 in magnitude and also because the socialist government of late dictator Hugo Chávez invested in building massive government housing units in the early 2000s that were not constructed to withstand intense earthquakes. Many of these buildings collapsed entirely with their residents inside.
A similar situation occurred in 2023 in Turkey, when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake resulted in the mass collapse of high-rise buildings in multiple cities. Following the disaster, real estate experts denounced that the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — a close friend of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro — had been corrupted by real estate developers who cut corners and ignored earthquake building standards to save money. That earthquake resulted in over 55,000 deaths.
Venezuela was struck by an earthquake centered in La Guaira state again on Monday. While the government’s official seismology organization registered a 4.2 magnitude, local media reported that other international scientists recorded the quake at up to a 5.1 magnitude. Even a smaller earthquake could be devastating to search and rescue efforts at this time as it could reshuffle building debris, potentially trapping people deeper inside the mounds of rubble.
Another complication to humanitarian aid efforts is the government’s current inability to simultaneously handle search and rescue while tending to those whose homes are still standing but not verified to be safe. Rodríguez, Maduro’s protege who now runs the country, announced on Sunday that she would establish a government commission to inspect the buildings that remain standing and ensure they were safe for habitation.
“The presidential commission is already working to verify the conditions of habitability, if people can return already to their homes,” Rodríguez claimed.
The socialist leader also promised the creation of “transitory camps for those who lost their homes” on an undetermined timeline.
Rodríguez is cooperating closely with President Donald Trump to bring American humanitarian aid to Venezuela. In an update on Monday, the State Department announced that it would contribute over $300 million in support for the country’s earthquake response, a sprawling operation featuring Department of War aircraft to deploy aid and rescuers and direct aid to independent organizations helping survivors on the ground. The United States has also committed to expanding access to the country by rebuilding the Simón Bolívar International Airport in La Guaira.
“Given damage to airport infrastructure and the significant amount of international aid arriving, the United States has assumed a leading role in coordinating airfield and humanitarian operations at the airport,” the State Department explained.
Other nations working to help Venezuela include the UAE, which committed $10 million in aid to send “essential support” to Venezuela, and India, whose military is operating a fully functional field hospital in Caracas.
“Services are open 24 hours. All services are free,” the Indian Army explained.