CARACAS — Two earthquakes struck Venezuela’s northern coast on June 24, 2024, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, causing catastrophic damage near the cities of La Guaira and Caracas. As of July 6, officials confirmed 3,535 deaths, 16,740 injuries, and 17,854 people displaced without housing due to the disaster.

The earthquakes occurred less than a minute apart and affected an area stretching over 200 kilometers from east of San Felipe to Guatire, according to data from the Fundacion Venezolana de Investigaciones Sismologicas (FUNVISIS) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Both agencies have released daily preliminary reports, data, and imagery since the event. The destruction was most severe in La Guaira and Caracas, where soft soil and sediment in Caracas’ valley amplified seismic impact, compromising building stability. In La Guaira, approximately 80% of buildings collapsed.

Citizens were seen pulling neighbors and relatives from rubble in the immediate aftermath of the quakes, before organized rescue teams arrived. Displaced and migrant communities of Venezuelans in the United States quickly mobilized, organizing collection centers to ship donations to La Guaira. Antonio Machado Allison, a first responder with the Venezuelan Red Cross Relief Brigade and an ecologist affiliated with Wesleyan University, described the scene as overwhelming. “One of the worst feelings one can have is frustration and to see the physical destruction of a country from a natural event but the destruction be so extreme,” he said. He added, “We are a country that is prone to have these types of natural events, but the government doesn’t do enough to guarantee the strength and resilience that a country should have.”

Carlos Giraldo, a geoscientist and seismology expert who lived in La Guaira for 20 years and previously worked at FUNVISIS for eight years, criticized Venezuela’s lack of preparedness. “Venezuela was not prepared for an emergency just like this,” Giraldo said. He also noted, “We need to build good infrastructure and be prepared for emergencies, which is not the case in Venezuela.” Giraldo had studied the Boconó and San Sebastián faults, which are part of Venezuela’s active fault system that typically sees major seismic events every 50 to 60 years.

Venezuela implemented the COVENIN1756 seismic building code in 2019, but experts question its enforcement. When soil movement reaches speeds close to 0.4 meters per second squared—as likely occurred during the June 24 quakes—it can significantly reduce a building’s seismic resistance. The region has experienced major disasters before: a 1967 earthquake of magnitude 6.5 struck the same area, and a 1999 mudslide in La Guaira caused approximately 19,000 deaths, according to the USGS.

Why It Matters

The June 24 earthquakes represent one of Venezuela’s deadliest natural disasters in decades, exposing systemic vulnerabilities in infrastructure and emergency response. The death toll surpasses that of the 1967 quake and approaches the scale of the 1999 mudslide, highlighting recurring risks in a seismically active region. With over 17,000 people displaced and critical infrastructure damaged, recovery efforts face immense logistical and financial challenges. Interim President Delcy Rodriguez held a press conference on July 2, asserting, “we acted immediately,” but critics, including scientists and first responders, maintain that chronic underinvestment in resilience measures worsened the catastrophe’s impact.