/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/3f/5b/3f5b08f5-fe66-4c47-b473-4ced97ae0016/venezuela-earthquakes.jpg)
Powerful Back-to-Back Earthquakes Killed at Least 188 People in Venezuela. Here's the Science Behind the Rare 'Doublet'
Key takeaways
- Shortly after 6:00 p.m., the initial 7.2-magnitude quake struck roughly 15 miles northeast of San Felipe.
- The death toll stands at 188, with more than 1,500 people injured as of Thursday afternoon, said Jorge Rodríguez, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, in remarks streamed by the state-funded T.V.
- The earthquakes are some of the strongest to hit the South American nation over the past century, according to the U.S.
Shortly after 6:00 p.m., the initial 7.2-magnitude quake struck roughly 15 miles northeast of San Felipe. Less than a minute later, a 7.5-magnitude quake hit just a few miles away from the first.
The death toll stands at 188, with more than 1,500 people injured as of Thursday afternoon, said Jorge Rodríguez, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, in remarks streamed by the state-funded T.V. station Telesur, reports the New York Times’ Pranav Baskar. The powerful quakes caused catastrophic damage to hundreds of structures in the area, including in the capital city of Caracas, around 100 miles east of the quakes’ epicenters, and experts fear the death toll could be much higher than the current number.
The earthquakes are some of the strongest to hit the South American nation over the past century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The agency states that the events were a back-to-back seismic sequence known as a “doublet.”