Venezuela – after the quakes:

Man rescued from rubble eight days after Venezuela earthquake

Courtesy, BBC News

A man has been rescued alive after being trapped for eight days in the rubble of a building that collapsed after twin earthquakes in Venezuela.

Emergency workers managed to free Hernán Gil more than 100 hours after they had first located him under 140 tonnes of rubble.

Almost 2,300 people are confirmed to have died in the quakes which hit Venezuela on 24 June, and tens of thousands are still missing.

Hundreds of rescuers had been working against the clock to free Gil since he was found on Saturday.

Teams from Venezuela, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Portugal and the United States helped to free him.

UN to deploy international rescue teams, while several countries individually volunteer to help

Article Below Courtesy of Thomson Reuters · Posted: Jun 24, 2026 7:53 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 25

Thousands of Venezuelans were feared dead on Thursday after two powerful earthquakes wreaked havoc in and around the capital Caracas, trapping people beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings and setting off powerful aftershocks.

The magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit about 160 kilometres west of Caracas in Morón on the Caribbean coast, followed less than a minute later by a magnitude 7.5 tremor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. As of Thursday afternoon, at least 188 people had been confirmed dead, with more than 1,500 injured and another 200 still missing.

The death toll did ​not include those from worst-affected La Guaira state on the northwestern coast, city’s airport, where social media footage from witnesses showed scenes of ​panic as ceilings came down.

“La Guaira state is a true tragedy, and has become a disaster zone,” said Rodriguez.

Venezuela earthquakes: More than 230 confirmed dead, thousands missing as officials fear death toll will soar

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A website set up to track missing people by leaders from the country’s opposition, many of whom are outside Venezuela, listed more than 24,000 people as unaccounted for at 10.40 a.m. local time.

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said it was co-ordinating the rapid deployment of international rescue teams, adding that “a massive collective effort” would be needed in a country ⁠where even before the ⁠quake, eight million people needed humanitarian aid.

Canada does not have an embassy in Caracas given the long-standing political turmoil of the Maduro era, with consular services offered out of Bogota. Global Affairs Canada urged any Canadians in Venezuela to follow the instructions of local authorities and monitor local media for updates on the situation.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, on social media, expressed condolences to Venezuelans affected by the disaster and said Canada is preparing to send humanitarian assistance “in the days and weeks ahead.”

‘Like a horror movie’

Emergency workers ‌scrambled over the debris of a collapsed building in Caracas as night fell, while distraught relatives sought help for loved ones feared trapped. Several dazed survivors were taken away, some on stretchers.

“When we went downstairs, the scene was like a horror movie,” said Maria Alejandra, a resident from a nearby building, who did not give her surname.

“We had to climb over the rubble and everything. The building superintendent with the baby and all the neighbours coming down. But from that building, I only saw that one family got out.”

The quakes were the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century. Aftershocks continued to rattle the capital into the early hours of Thursday.

“Dozens of buildings have collapsed, and we are currently carrying out very intense rescue efforts to save as many lives as God allows us to save,” Rodriguez said in an appearance on state television just before 1 a.m. local time.

The USGS, using predictive modelling to estimate the death toll, said it would most likely run into the thousands, with a substantial probability of exceeding 10,000.

Many Venezuelans were at home when the ⁠quakes struck during the afternoon on a public holiday.

“There was a very loud crash. Things fell in the house, jugs inside ‌the refrigerator. I’ve never experienced anything like it,” said Coro Martinez, 56, who lives in eastern Caracas.

At Caracas’s Hospital de Clinicas, staff were asked ⁠to double up on the night shift to help treat the injured, a worker there said. Video filmed at the hospital showed a darkened hallway with ceiling panels hanging ⁠by cables ⁠and pieces of plaster scattered across the floor.

Houses collapsed near the quake’s epicentre in Morón, ⁠a small seaside town in the state of Carabobo, where ⁠there was no water or electricity. Three children were among at least eight killed in the area, municipal mayor Emily Riera told ‌Reuters.

North central Venezuela was hit by two strong back-to-back earthquakes on Wednesday — one a magnitude of 7.2 and the other 7.5 — causing buildings to collapse and prompting warnings of potentially heavy casualties and widespread destruction. (Pedro Mattey/The Associated Press)

The country is focused on rescue efforts, including the arrival in the coming hours of rescue crews from other countries, she said, as she thanked leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump. Rodriguez was elevated to power after the U.S. military seized autocratic Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in a violent raid in January.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said while in Bahrain meeting the leaders of several Middle East countries, that search and rescue teams will be deployed to Venezuela and that the Pentagon would send assets to the damaged airport.

Lost power, internet

Many residents in Caracas lost power or internet service right after the quake. The lack of cellphone signal in parts of Venezuela deepened the distress of many families, particularly those among the more than 7.7 million people who have left the country during its protracted crisis.

The ​Venezuelan Red Cross said its headquarters had been critically damaged but that it had sent rescue teams to the worst-affected areas, warning of the risks posed by strong aftershocks. France said its embassy had been badly damaged.

Simon Bolivar ​Airport in ⁠Maiquetia, near Caracas, was closed because of damage and that classes would be cancelled for several days, with some school buildings to be used as shelters.