EARTHQUAKE — When Venezuela Shook Twice in 39 Seconds

The twenty-fourth of June, two thousand twenty-six, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in Venezuela's recent history. At four minutes past six in the afternoon, local time, the ground started to shake with surprising force. The epicentre of the first earthquake was located about twenty-three kilometres from the city of San Felipe, in the state of Yaracuy, at a depth of around twenty kilometres. The magnitude was seven point two on the moment magnitude scale.

But the most shocking part was still to come. Only thirty-nine seconds later, before people could leave their buildings or find safety, a second earthquake hit the same region. This one was even stronger: magnitude seven point five, with its epicentre twenty-eight kilometres south-east of Yumare. Scientists call this a seismic doublet, and it is an extremely rare event in the world. Two large earthquakes in less than a minute, in the same area, almost never happens.

That day was a national holiday in Venezuela, because the country was celebrating the Battle of Carabobo, the victory that sealed its independence in eighteen twenty-one. Many shops and offices were closed, and this, according to experts, probably saved many lives. However, the damage was enormous. Entire buildings collapsed in Caracas, Maracay, La Guaira and other northern cities. In the Chacao district of the capital, a single collapsed building trapped more than eighteen people. The Naval Military Academy was almost completely destroyed.

Infrastructure also suffered serious damage. Maiquetía International Airport, the most important in the country, was badly affected. The Morón motorway, in the state of Carabobo, cracked and broke in several places, leaving some communities cut off. A tsunami warning was initially activated for Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire and Puerto Rico, but it was cancelled one and a half hours later, when authorities confirmed that the danger had passed.

The first official figures speak of more than two hundred confirmed deaths and thousands of injured people, but the numbers keep rising as the hours go by. The acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, declared a state of emergency and suspended schools and non-essential activities across the entire country. Rescue teams are working against the clock to find people still trapped under the rubble. The international community reacted quickly: the United States sent military ships and specialised rescue teams, while organisations such as Unicef and Project HOPE coordinated humanitarian aid on the ground.

To understand why Venezuela is so vulnerable to this kind of event, we need to look beneath our feet. The country sits right on the border between two huge tectonic plates: the Caribbean Plate and the South American Plate. These plates move, one against the other, at a speed of about twenty millimetres per year. It may sound small, but the energy that builds up over decades can be released suddenly, causing devastating earthquakes. The famous Boconó Fault, which crosses much of Venezuelan territory, is one of the most active in the Americas.

Venezuela had experienced major earthquakes before. In nineteen hundred, the San Narciso earthquake reached a magnitude of seven point six. In two thousand eighteen, the Sucre earthquake reached seven point three. But experts agree that these two June quakes are among the strongest to hit the country in more than a century.

Today, while rescuers keep searching for survivors and families try to rebuild what they can, Venezuela mourns its victims and, once again, shows its strength to resist. The ground shook twice in thirty-nine seconds, but the solidarity of an entire nation will keep shaking for much, much longer.