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Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, has declared a state of emergency after the country was struck by two powerful earthquakes that collapsed dozens of buildings and killed at least 164 people, a toll that it is feared could rise significantly.
Rodríguez said 971 people were injured and more casualties were expected. The two strong earthquakes hit within a minute of each other shortly after 6pm local time on Wednesday. The first had a magnitude of 7.2 and the second 7.5, the most powerful to strike the country since 1900, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Rodríguez said there were about 30 aftershocks. In a televised broadcast on Wednesday night, she urged citizens to evacuate damaged buildings. “We ask the population to remain calm and united,” she said.
The quakes were felt in many parts of the country but the worst destruction appears to have taken place in and around the capital, Caracas, where videos on social media showed scenes of panic as passengers raced through the corridors of Simón Bolívar international airport seeking cover from falling debris.
Rodríguez said the airport had been closed after sustaining “severe damage” and announced that the metro and train systems had been halted. “We send our immediate condolences to those who have lost relatives,” the acting president said.
The USGS said Venezuela had been hit by a magnitude 7.2 “foreshock” and, 39 seconds later, a magnitude 7.5 “mainshock”. The epicentre was west of the community of Morón, located on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast about 100 miles (170km) west of Caracas. The quake had a depth of 8 miles (13km).
“High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” the USGS said.
Three people were killed in the Baruta district in Caracas after two buildings collapsed, according to the district mayor, Reuters reported. The mayor of Chacao district in Caracas said one person had died and four buildings had collapsed. Twenty-two people had been taken to hospital.
Donald Trump said the US was ready, willing and able to help in the disaster. “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,” he said.
In an early morning post on Thursday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the US was “immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela”.
Spain said it was ready to send 54 army rescuers to Venezuela, while France said it had 85 rescue workers who could be deployed.
Venezuela’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, told the state broadcaster VTV: “A seismic event that everything suggests was considerably above 7 points has taken place. There are several complicated areas … very alarming areas from the visual point of view, with buildings and homes that have collapsed.
“Normally this kind of event is followed by aftershocks, which could also bring down some structures that were damaged by the main event.”
A Guardian reporter saw at least three buildings that had collapsed in Altamira, an upmarket area of Caracas that is home to many foreign embassies.
Some people were reportedly trapped under the rubble. Outside one building, a person was seen weeping and calling out for his grandmother who he feared was inside. Nearby, rescue workers and volunteers searched for survivors.
“It was horrible,” said Olky Barrero, a 56-year-old teacher, as she joined the search effort outside a collapsed six-floor building. “We hope to God that there are as few victims as possible. We’re praying.”
“Where I was, it felt like the walls were going to fall on top of us, they were shaking back and forth, this way and that,” Barrero added as two victims, at least one of them still alive, were hauled out of the building’s ruins.
José Morillo said several members of his family had been inside the building. “My brother, my son and nephews are all inside. I have faith. I believe in God a lot. I hope everyone is OK – but uncertainty is torture,” the 61-year-old said as rescue workers combed the wreckage.
Thick columns of dust could be seen rising from the city, while images showed residents fleeing badly damaged buildings with their belongings and pets.
One of the worst-hit areas appears to have been La Guaira, a port city just north of Caracas. It is home to Simón Bolívar airport, Venezuela’s main international hub, and is also close to some of the hillside communities that came under attack by US forces when Trump ordered the 3 January attack on the country this year to abduct its president, Nicolás Maduro.
One large beachfront hotel in La Guaira, Eduard’s Hotel Boutique, was almost completely destroyed. Nearby in Catia La Mar, Venezuela’s naval academy and a number of tall residential buildings were severely damaged.
The US embassy in Caracas urged American citizens to avoid damaged areas, advising them not to enter damaged buildings and to seek secure shelter.
In footage shot outside a building that had collapsed in San Bernardino, an area of northern Caracas, a man could be heard saying: “There are many injured people inside. It’s a disaster.”
In Baruta, civil defence workers carried people from shattered buildings on stretchers after a landslide triggered by the earthquake.
Baruta’s mayor, Darwin González, posted footage on social media of a woman being rescued from rubble. “We call on people to remain calm and civil at this time,” he wrote.
The exiled opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado wrote on X: “My heart, my infinite embrace, and my prayers are with every Venezuelan home in these hours of anguish. May strength, serenity and solidarity prevail among us in the face of this difficult moment.”
