Venezuela death toll hits 2,595 as cost from strongest quake in a century mount
People walk past a collapsed building after an earthquake in Caracas on June 25, 2026. The country’s interim president said 32 people were killed and more than 700 injured in powerful twin earthquakes on June 25 after powerful tremors collapsed entire buildings and sent people running in panic.
Manaure Quintero | Afp | Getty Images
The number of deaths in the twin earthquakes in Venezuela increased by 300, reaching 2,595. from the day beforeRescue operations continued for more than a week after the country’s strongest tremors in more than a century.
In his first news conference since coming to power in January after a US military operation that captured the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, Rodríguez said the government had not completed search and rescue efforts.
More than 12,000 people were injured, Rodríguez said, but without specifying how many were missing. The number of people unaccounted for dropped from about 60,000 in the days immediately after the earthquakes to 38,500 people still unaccounted for, according to an unofficial and widely distributed online list.
The 7.2 magnitude earthquake was followed seconds later by a 7.5 magnitude main shock last Wednesday; these earthquakes were the strongest tremors to hit Venezuela since 1900. The earthquakes destroyed buildings in the hardest-hit coastal provinces of Caracas and La Guaira and severely damaged Simón Bolívar International Airport, the capital’s main gateway.
Almost all officials in La Guaira died in the disaster, Rodriguez said in question.
Officials say about 800 buildings were destroyed, 189 of which were completely destroyed. A preliminary satellite analysis published by NASA and Oregon State University researchersThe report, updated Monday, estimates that approximately 58,870 buildings were likely damaged or destroyed.
proposed by the United Nations Development Programme. direct physical damage $6.7 billion, which is about 6% of gross domestic product. risk modeler Verisk prediction The total economic loss exceeded $10 billion.
The government said the earthquakes caused only minor delays at oil terminals and delays in exports. seems largely stable after the disaster. Authorities were also inspecting state-run PDVSA’s Catia La Mar fuel terminal, located in one of the hardest-hit areas, for damage.
The United States mounted one of the largest disaster responses in recent years, deploying more than 900 personnel in Venezuela and four search and rescue teams of nearly 800 personnel in the Caribbean hubs of Puerto Rico and Curaçao. According to Reuters. The Trump administration has also pledged to mobilize $150 million in humanitarian aid.
There is disaster instant support UN-coordinated efforts from countries around the world, including Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Cuba and Switzerland.
The Venezuelan government has rejected criticism that it responded too slowly to the devastation caused by the earthquake. Rodriguez said at the press conference that his government issued an emergency decree within hours of the tremor to activate civil protection and emergency protocols.
