Venezuela’s death toll from devastating twin earthquakes climbed above 1,400 on June 27 as foreign rescue teams poured into the country and authorities intensified the search for survivors, while an overwhelming influx of civilian volunteers and relief convoys slowed emergency operations in the hardest-hit coastal areas.
The twin earthquakes, measuring magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, struck on June 24, triggering widespread destruction across northern Venezuela and hundreds of aftershocks. Rescue teams are racing against time to locate survivors as the critical 72-hour rescue window closes.
The only highway connecting Caracas to La Guaira, the state hardest hit by the disaster, became clogged with trucks, motorcycles, pickup trucks and private vehicles carrying food, water, medicine and volunteers. The congestion delayed ambulances, heavy equipment and international rescue teams attempting to reach devastated communities.
On June 27, Venezuelan authorities restricted access to La Guaira, allowing only government vehicles and authorized personnel to enter after concluding that the flow of civilian volunteers had become unmanageable. Civilians not attached to official rescue teams were required to present credentials at checkpoints along the highway.
Death Toll Rises as Search Efforts Continue
At least 1,430 people have died in the earthquakes, according to Venezuelan officials, while rescue crews continue searching collapsed buildings across La Guaira and parts of Caracas.
Authorities said families have reported at least 68,900 people missing. Separately, an opposition-backed website lists more than 55,000 people as unaccounted for.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that more than 10,000 deaths were possible from the earthquakes, a scenario that would make the disaster one of Latin America’s deadliest in the past century.
Search efforts have been complicated by repeated aftershocks, damaged infrastructure and shortages of heavy machinery. Venezuelan officials said at least 430 aftershocks have struck since the two major earthquakes.
Aid agencies consider the first 48 to 72 hours critical for locating survivors, although successful rescues can still occur several days after a major disaster.
Earthquake magnitude is measured on a logarithmic scale, meaning each whole-number increase represents about 32 times more energy released. As a result, the second quake, measuring 7.5, released roughly twice as much energy as the initial 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck about 40 seconds earlier.
The quakes occurred at depths of 20.3 and 10 kilometers and were felt across much of northern Venezuela and in several Caribbean countrie
International Rescue Mission Expands
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said Venezuela has received support from more than 24 countries.
In a social media post, Rodríguez said 2,741 emergency workers and 86 canine units had been deployed to assist search operations. Later, on her Telegram account, she said the international rescuers “are already integrated with our teams to respond jointly to the emergency.”
Earlier, Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly and brother of the acting president, said 21 international teams and 2,242 rescuers had arrived.
More than 2,000 rescue workers from 27 countries have been deployed to Venezuela to rescue survivors in a deployment supported and coordinated by the United Nations.
Search-and-rescue teams from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru and the Dominican Republic, as well as from Germany, Czechia, Spain, France, Italy, Jordan, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Qatar, UK, US, Serbia, Syria, Switzerland and Turkiye have joined Venezuelan responders in searching collapsed neighborhoods.
In Caraballeda, one of La Guaira’s worst-hit communities, Reuters witnesses observed U.S. helicopters ferrying rescue teams into a dusty landing zone before returning for additional personnel.
A U.S. official said one runway at the international airport near Caracas had become operational, easing a major bottleneck for humanitarian flights carrying rescue teams and emergency supplies.
Race against Time amid Constant Aftershocks
Rescuers continue working in increasingly dangerous conditions as aftershocks repeatedly shake damaged buildings.
Loyce Pace, the Red Cross’ Regional Director for the Americas, said the ongoing seismic activity continues to disrupt rescue operations.
“I don’t know if people are aware of how constant this threat has been,” Pace told CNN. “There are continuous tremors every time I talk on the phone with my team there,” Pace continued. “It is something quite constant and quite frightening. This means our teams must be very careful when entering these communities to assess the damage or provide services.”
David Emmanuel Villa Tejeda, who is working in Caracas with the Mexican rescue team Los Topos, described the difficult conditions facing rescuers.
“It’s difficult because the earthquakes came one after another, and weren’t very deep,” Villa Tejeda told journalists accompanying the rescue efforts in Venezuela. “That’s what caused so many buildings to fall.”
He said the way buildings collapsed has made rescue efforts increasingly difficult. “It’s becoming very difficult to find them alive.”
Despite the deteriorating conditions, Villa Tejeda said previous missions have shown survivors can still be rescued days after a disaster. “We’ve pulled out people after 10 days, under the rubble, still alive.”
Plane passengers preparing to depart Simón Bolívar International Airport near the Venezuelan capital of Caracas were violently shaken as two powerful earthquakes struck the region.
International Teams Rescue Survivors
Despite the worsening conditions, international rescue teams have reported several successful rescues.
The Colombian USAR COL-1 search-and-rescue team rescued an 11-year-old boy, Moisés, after more than six hours of work in La Guaira.
The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on X: “Moisés is safe! After six hours of an intense operation, the USAR COL-1 team from Colombia rescued alive the 11-year-old boy who was trapped under the rubble in La Guaira, Venezuela.”
Rodríguez also shared a video on social media that she said showed the rescue of an 11-year-old boy in La Guaira.
Firefighters from Quito, Ecuador, working alongside rescuers from El Salvador, rescued an 80-year-old woman named Marlene after she had been trapped beneath a collapsed building in Playa Grande for more than 60 hours.
During the rescue, a firefighter reassured her, saying: “We are going to help you, we came from Ecuador to help you, stay calm, we are with you, okay?”
Families Search for Missing Relatives
Thousands of families continue searching hospitals, shelters and collapsed buildings for missing relatives.
Among them is Alejandro Serrano, a 33-year-old industrial engineer who traveled from San Cristóbal to Caraballeda searching for his 24-year-old sister, Ana Serrano, whose Bahía Mar apartment building collapsed in the earthquakes.
After searching Pérez Carreño Hospital without success, Serrano gave his sister’s information and address to rescue teams from Argentina and El Salvador.
“I hope they don’t find her” in the rubble, he said, meaning he hoped she was still alive. “But I need to find her.”
Elsewhere, rescue teams repeatedly called for silence while listening for signs of life beneath collapsed buildings, highlighting the urgency of operations as survival chances continue to diminish.
Humanitarian Crisis Deepens
UNICEF estimates that approximately 1.8 million people in Venezuela, including 680,000 children, require humanitarian assistance following the earthquakes. The agency said it has expanded its emergency response to reach more affected communities.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 6 million people could ultimately be affected, including around 2 million residents in Caracas.
Hospitals weakened by years of underinvestment are struggling to treat the growing number of injured as families continue searching desperately for loved ones.
Power has gradually returned to some affected communities, but Venezuela’s aging electrical grid continues to experience widespread outages after years of underinvestment.
Residents Endure Aftershocks and Loss
Repeated aftershocks have forced many survivors to remain outdoors days after the disaster.
In Valle del Pino, a neighborhood in Los Corales, Beisy Rivas said only a handful of homes remained standing.
“Since the night of the earthquakes, almost all the neighbors have been sleeping in the street because of the aftershocks,” she said. “My nerves are on edge, thinking about the dead and about the people who lost relatives.”
Nearby resident Yendri Santana said several homes in her neighborhood suffered structural damage while her sister lost her small home but survived. “It hurts to see people struggle so much only to lose everything,” she said.
Public Frustration Mounts
As rescue operations continue, frustration has grown among residents who believe the government’s response has not matched the scale of the disaster.
Many civilians have joined rescue efforts using shovels, ropes, heavy equipment and their bare hands to clear debris.
Mileidy Romero, searching in the coastal town of Caraballeda, described what she said she witnessed. “There’s a pile of bodies over there from last night. Newborn babies,” Romero said.
“At 8 p.m. (yesterday) there were people alive down there, and they haven’t bothered to rescue them. We’ve located several bodies, and they haven’t helped us recover them either. What are they waiting for?”
Acting President Rodríguez said more than 14,000 members of the military and police were patrolling affected areas, where access now requires special permits.
However, many residents said they had seen little government presence. Yeison Marcano criticized officials after volunteers prevented an excavator from leaving a collapse site.
“They came to eat arepas and take pictures to make it look like they were working,” Marcano said. “They didn’t even get their uniforms dirty like we have. We’ve been here for three days.”
A short distance away, rescuers pulled an elderly man from the rubble of a public housing building. Disoriented and pleading for water, he repeatedly cried, “My family! My family!” as emergency personnel placed him into a pickup truck.
International Support Continues
The disaster presents one of the biggest challenges facing Acting President Delcy Rodríguez since assuming office in January following the removal of former President Nicolás Maduro.
Pope Leo, speaking in Rome on June 27, offered prayers for the victims, their families and rescue workers, expressing hope that international solidarity with Venezuela would continue throughout the recovery effort.
The United States has already dispatched rescue teams and humanitarian assistance. A senior U.S. administration official said an additional aid package worth hundreds of millions of dollars is expected to be announced, supplementing the $150 million already committed by the Trump administration.
Reuters also reported that a renewed appeal by Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for U.S. support to facilitate her return to Venezuela has frustrated senior U.S. officials, who believe political initiatives should not distract from ongoing emergency operations.
As rescue teams continue searching collapsed buildings across northern Venezuela, authorities warn that the operation is becoming increasingly difficult with each passing hour, though responders remain hopeful that additional survivors can still be found beneath the rubble.