Death toll from Venezuela earthquake rises to 920 as foreign rescue teams start arriving

The death toll from two powerful earthquakes that devastated Venezuela earlier this week rose to 920 on Friday, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said. In a televised address, Rodriguez updated the death toll that had previously been at 589. He also announced military deployment to one of the worst-hit regions, the state of La Guaira. More than 50,000 people were missing following the disaster, United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher told AFP on Friday. “We’ve got over 50,000 people missing, over 500 people dead, so a massive job to go through the rubble,” he said. Families searched desperately for loved ones trapped under debris, with some of them using their hands to claw at the rubble of buildings. Foreign rescue teams and aid were arriving in Venezuela nearly two days after devastating twin earthquakes flattened areas in and around the capital Caracas. The government has also confirmed 2,980 injuries till now. The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 tremors, two of the biggest earthquakes in Latin America’s modern history, struck about 160 kilometres west of Caracas on Wednesday evening as Venezuelans were enjoying a public holiday. The US Geological Survey has predicted more than 10,000 deaths. The government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who took power after the United States arrested her predecessor in a January raid, has pledged a massive deployment of assistance. Yet help was patchy on Thursday, with authorities like firefighters, police, civil protection and the military on the streets in some places but absent or with minimal presence in others. People stand on the rubble of a collapsed building, in the aftermath of earthquakes in La Guaira, Venezuela on June 25, 2026. —Reuters/File La Guaira, a coastal city just outside Caracas, was the worst affected, as at least 100 buildings, including high-rise apartments, were smashed to the ground. Anguished residents decried a lack of state help and proper equipment, though state television showed images of Rodr