The death toll from twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela's northern coast earlier this week has climbed to 1,430, with more than 3,200 people injured and at least 3,100 left homeless, according to The Guardian. National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez delivered the figures on state television, adding that more than 68,900 people have been reported unaccounted for by their families.

The two quakes — a magnitude 7.2 followed 39 seconds later by a magnitude 7.5 — struck Wednesday evening, according to ABC News. The 7.5 magnitude tremor is the most powerful to hit Venezuela since 1900, according to The Guardian.

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By Friday, at least 30 international search teams had joined the effort in Venezuela, according to ABC News. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that those foreign contingents brought with them upward of 1,600 personnel and more than 100 search dogs. An 11-year-old boy was pulled alive from debris in the coastal city of Caraballeda, interim president Delcy Rodríguez said on Saturday, according to The Guardian. Acting president Delcy Rodríguez announced that upward of 14,000 combined military and police personnel had been deployed across the disaster zones, which remain under restricted entry requiring special authorization to access.

The La Guaira coastal state, north of Caracas, was among the hardest-hit areas, with more than 100 buildings having collapsed there, according to The Guardian. In La Guaira, residents have taken recovery efforts into their own hands, clearing the wreckage of collapsed structures with whatever tools they can find, including shovels, or with no tools at all. The U.N. estimated the quakes caused $6.7 billion in damage, equivalent to 6% of Venezuela's GDP.

A British volunteer crisis-response unit sent by the charity Serve On found itself grounded at Madrid's airport for over a day, unable to continue its journey to Caracas, according to The Guardian. Team leader Vernon Young said the delay was costly. "These things are always time critical," Young told the Press Association. "The sooner you get there, the more chance you have of saving lives."

Washington committed $150 million in disaster assistance, breaking the package into a $50 million allocation for organizations already on the ground in Venezuela and a $100 million deposit into a U.N. humanitarian fund designated for the country, according to The Guardian. An estimated 7.9 million people in Venezuela were already in need of humanitarian assistance before the earthquakes struck, the charity Oxfam said.

More on this story: Venezuela earthquake death toll rises to 1,430 as rescue teams search rubble

Update, June 29, 2026: The death toll from the Venezuela earthquakes has risen to more than 1,700, up from the 1,430 figure previously reported. (per The New York Times)

Update, June 30, 2026: NASA estimates that more than 58,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed by the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela. (per CNN)

Update, July 1, 2026: The death toll from the Venezuela earthquakes has risen to 1,943, with 10,710 injured and 75,866 displaced. Authorities have converted a seaport into a temporary morgue and moved victims into refrigerated shipping containers as the country's forensic system is overwhelmed, with mass burials also being considered. (per The New York Times)

Venezuela earthquake death toll rises to 1,430 as rescue teams search rubble

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