Venezuela earthquake death toll hits 920, rescue efforts ongoing

3 min readUpdated June 29, 2026

At least 920 people are dead and 3,360 others injured after two earthquakes tore through Venezuela 39 seconds apart, with search teams pressing urgently to pull thousands more survivors from the wreckage, according to NBC News.

Registering magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, the quakes — centered west of Caracas — rank among the most powerful to have hit Venezuela in over 100 years. La Guaira, a coastal state bordering the capital, bore some of the heaviest destruction; Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said roughly 70,000 families there were affected, according to NBC News. National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez reported that roughly 250 buildings had been damaged or destroyed and that some 200 individuals were still unaccounted for beneath the debris as of Friday, according to NBC News.

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Civilian volunteer Daniela Guerra told NBC News that the shortage of basic supplies hampered operations from the start, with some rescuers digging through debris with no protective gloves, leaving several of them with injured hands. After hearing an infant's cries coming from inside a crumbled structure in La Guaira on Thursday night, volunteers working without heavy equipment dug through the debris by hand until they freed the baby, who was found to be unharmed, according to NBC News. Hospitals had reached capacity by Thursday evening, according to NBC News.

Seismologists have classified the event as a doublet sequence, according to NBC News — a term describing two earthquakes of comparable size that occur close together in both location and time. Both quakes originated at the fault zone where the South American and Caribbean tectonic plates meet, according to NBC News. Harold Tobin, who directs the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, explained to NBC News that buildings damaged but still standing after the initial quake were then likely finished off by the one that followed.

Countries around the world mobilized assistance in response. Washington pledged $150 million for disaster relief and sent a contingent of 250 personnel to the country, which included three specialized urban search-and-rescue teams, according to CNN. Among the military assets mobilized, the U.S. Southern Command dispatched the amphibious transport ship USS Fort Lauderdale and the littoral combat ship USS Billings to assist with relief operations, according to CNN. An opening contribution of 100,000 euros arrived from Pope Leo, while the United Nations moved to channel relief from an international humanitarian fund, according to NBC News.

Update, June 27, 2026: About 1,400 buildings have been damaged, including 13 hospitals, and economic losses are estimated to range from less than $10 billion to as much as $100 billion. The official death toll has risen to nearly 1,000. (per The New York Times)

Update, June 28, 2026: The death toll from the twin earthquakes has risen to 1,430, with 243 people rescued and more than 68,000 still missing across Venezuela. (per NBC News)

Update, June 28, 2026: Thirty-three people were rescued alive from collapsed buildings over the weekend. The missing count has been revised down to nearly 50,000, compared with the more than 68,000 reported previously. (per ABC News)

Update, June 29, 2026: The death toll has risen to 1,450, with 3,150 people injured and 12,721 displaced. International rescue teams from the United States, France, and Venezuela pulled a man and his son from the rubble on Sunday after four days trapped beneath collapsed buildings. (per NBC News)

Venezuela earthquake death toll reaches 920 as rescue efforts continue

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