Two major earthquakes struck central Venezuela on Wednesday, causing buildings to collapse in the capital and people to swarm into the streets. The stronger quake was the largest to hit the country since 1900.
Neither the scale of the damage nor its human toll was immediately clear, but given the earthquakes’ power and the large number of vulnerable buildings in the stricken region, fears of a widespread disaster were high.
The first, 7.2-magnitude earthquake was followed less than a minute later by a 7.5-magnitude earthquake, according to U.S. monitoring agencies. The epicenter was near San Felipe, a city of about 220,000 in the state of Yaracuy, about 200 miles west of Caracas. The temblors happened shortly after 6 p.m. local time. As seismologists review available data, they may revise the reported magnitudes of the earthquakes.
The U.S. Geological Survey said that many people in the affected area reside in structures made of unreinforced brick masonry and adobe block construction, which are vulnerable to earthquakes.
Venezuela’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, went on state television to urge people to vacate damaged buildings. “Subsequent aftershocks will exploit those structural weaknesses,” he warned.
Josefina Hernández, 48, an administrator in Valencia, west of Caracas, said she heard a deafening noise. The electricity went out immediately, she said, and everything inside her home started moving. “You tried to run and you couldn’t,” she said. “People were frantic, screaming — I mean, it was terrifying, because people were just pouring out saying, ‘What is this?’”
Videos on social media showed passengers running for safety inside the international airport in Maiquetía, near Caracas. Other images showed rescue teams combing through collapsed structures in Caracas searching for survivors.
Venezuela’s government said on state television that a “strong earthquake” was felt in Caracas and several parts of the country, but that the extent of the damage was not immediately clear.
Venezuelan authorities did not immediately respond to requests for further comment. Officials at the United States Embassy in Caracas also did not immediately respond.
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A seismologist with the U.S.G.S., Paul Earle, called the earthquakes “devastating” and said the agency’s models estimated “potentially over 1,000 fatalities to potentially tens of thousands.”
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Wednesday’s quakes quickly drew comparisons among Venezuelans to a 1967 earthquake that wreaked havoc in the capital and left more than 200 people dead.
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Although the quakes struck on land, the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center briefly issued tsunami warnings along the coasts of Venezuela, Bonaire and Curaçao and Aruba.
Reporting was contributed by Amy Graff, Isayen Herrera and Tibisay Romero.
