At least 164 people were killed and nearly 1,000 injured after two powerful earthquakes struck central Venezuela on the evening of June 24, collapsing buildings across the country and prompting the government to declare the coastal state of La Guaira a disaster zone, acting President Delcy Rodríguez said.

The back-to-back quakes, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, struck about a minute apart shortly after 6 p.m. local time, with epicentres near the municipality of Montalbán in Carabobo state and west of Morón on Venezuela's Caribbean coast, according to the US Geological Survey. The USGS initially measured the first quake at 7.1 before revising it to 7.2.

The first quake had a depth of 22 km (13.6 miles), the USGS said, while the second, more powerful tremor struck at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles) about 16 km southwest of Morón.

"At this time, we have reports of 32 deaths, not including the figures from La Guaira state, and more than 700 injured people," Rodríguez said in a televised address late on June 24, adding that the toll was expected to rise as rescuers reached the hardest-hit areas.

The toll climbed sharply in the hours that followed. AP reported on June 25 that Rodríguez had raised the death toll to 164, with 971 people injured.

La Guaira, a coastal state bordering Caracas that is home to the country's main international airport, bore the brunt of the damage, Rodríguez said.

"We can say that La Guaira state is a true tragedy and has become a disaster zone," she said, adding that dozens of buildings had collapsed roughly 30 km north of the capital, EFE reported. Rescue teams from the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Qatar and the Dominican Republic were expected to arrive within hours, she said.

Simón Bolívar International Airport, which serves the capital, was closed due to severe damage, Rodríguez said. Caracas subway, train and domestic gas services were also suspended, while electricity and water supplies were disrupted in affected areas.

Rescue operations underway

State broadcaster VTV showed footage of rescuers pulling three children, covered in dust but alive, from rubble in La Guaira. A hospital in Tucacas, about 200 km northwest of Caracas, also sustained damage, the broadcaster reported.

In Falcon state, Governor Víctor Clark said 32 people had been hospitalised and 15 remained trapped in the hours after the quake.

Rodríguez declared a state of emergency and ordered schools closed for several days, with some buildings to be converted into shelters and donation centres. She activated the country's public and private healthcare networks and urged residents to report damage or missing relatives through a government app.

"We urge our population to remain calm," Rodríguez said. "We urge unity."

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said the quakes were felt across several states and asked motorists to give way to emergency vehicles. Aftershocks remained a risk to weakened structures, he said, and people should stay outdoors and check in with vulnerable relatives. "We understand that some people may be desperate, but we are acting according to protocols," he said.

A staff member at Hospital de Clínicas in Caracas quoted by Reuters said employees had been asked to work extended night shifts to cope with the influx of injured patients. 

Venezuela's key oil sector appeared for now largely unaffected by the tremors, based on initial reports. In Maracaibo, near the Lake Maracaibo oil hub, civil protection officials said no injuries had been recorded, and an employee at the El Palito refinery, close to the quakes' epicentre near Morón, reported no damage to the facility, Reuters reported.

Tremors felt across the region

The quakes were felt well beyond Venezuela's borders. Buildings were evacuated in Manaus, Belem and Macapá in Brazil's Amazon region, more than 1,700 km from Caracas, Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo reported. Tremors were also felt in Colombia's Caribbean and northeast regions, Curaçao and Aruba, with no reports of damage or injuries outside Venezuela.

The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a brief tsunami alert for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, which was later withdrawn.

Witnesses described chaotic scenes as the ground shook. "It started off gently and then gradually grew, and in the end, we all had to leave our houses, go outside and gather together," Caracas resident Hector Ricci said, as quoted by AP. 

Venezuela sees far fewer major earthquakes than other parts of Latin America despite sitting on the boundary between the South American and Caribbean tectonic plates. Most of the world's seismic activity instead clusters along the Pacific "Ring of Fire" — the belt running through Mexico, Central America and Chile that the USGS links to roughly nine in ten earthquakes globally. The June 24 quakes rank among the most powerful to hit Venezuela in more than a century, alongside the 1900 San Narciso earthquake and the 2018 Sucre earthquake.

The USGS classified the event with its highest-level red alert, signalling that the earthquakes were likely to result in extensive casualties and severe destruction, with potential economic losses ranging from 2% to 20% of Venezuela's GDP.

International aid pours in

Offers of assistance came from across the world. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was "immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela."

“The two major earthquakes that just hit the great people of Venezuela are both massive in scale and have left a devastating number of deaths. The U.S.A. stands ready, willing, and able to help! I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly. We will be there for our new and great friends. Early reports are not good!!!,” US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Rodríguez, who took office following the US capture of Nicolas Maduro in January, thanked Trump for maintaining "constant contact" with Venezuelan authorities, saying Venezuela "will never forget the helping hand" extended during the crisis.

Other governments offering aid included Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Qatar and Uruguay, as well as Italy, Spain and India. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would ask the European Union to activate its Civil Protection mechanism to help coordinate and finance emergency relief, AFP reported. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi both offered condolences and support, while the Organization of American States pledged hemispheric solidarity.

Beijing extended its “sincere condolences” to the South American nation and said it stands ready to provide "what help it can in an appropriate manner according to the needs of the Venezuelan side," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.

Exiled opposition leader María Corina Machado wrote on X that she hoped "strength, serenity and solidarity prevail" among Venezuelans facing the disaster.

According to AP, patchy phone networks across the affected region made it harder for the more than 7.7mn Venezuelans living abroad, many of whom left during the country's long-running economic and political crisis, to confirm the safety of family members still at home.

Less than half an hour after the Venezuela earthquakes, a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Japan's northeastern coast near Iwate prefecture, more than 500 km north of Tokyo. No tsunami warning was issued and no injuries were immediately reported. It is unclear whether the two events are related.