Six days after two powerful earthquakes rocked Venezuela, a two-year-old boy was pulled alive from earthquake rubble, even as the country's death toll climbed to 1,943 and the number of injured surpassed 10,000, according to BBC News.
Jordanian rescuers located the child, Kleiber Moran, beneath wreckage in La Guaira state; he was subsequently transported to a Caracas hospital, where his condition was reported as stable, BBC News reported. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez said the survival offered "a source of hope for our people," according to BBC News.
The twin earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude, struck last week and are among the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century, according to The Associated Press. An initial analysis of NASA satellite imagery put the number of buildings probably damaged or destroyed at 58,870, according to BBC News.
The United Nations cautioned that La Guaira was experiencing acute food shortages, a collapse of basic services, and near-total communication blackouts. To address the crisis, the UN refugee agency said it required an initial $15 million to extend protection and shelter support to 30,000 people over the following six months, according to BBC News. The World Health Organization said health services were under "extreme pressure" and warned of an increased risk of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases including measles and diphtheria.
According to The Associated Press, the absence of official government data left families relying on crowdsourced online registries, one of which tallied 51,000 people unaccounted for while a separate registry placed the figure at 24,000. Efforts to locate missing persons were hampered by the government's ongoing blocks on social media and messaging apps; however, access to X $TWTR was reinstated not long after the UN urged authorities to remove those restrictions.
For members of Venezuela's roughly 8 million-strong diaspora, reaching relatives and confirming their safety proved especially difficult, according to The New York Times. People on the ground recounted to ABC News that pledges of state support — among them promises to deploy heavy equipment for debris removal — had gone largely unfulfilled.
Update, July 18, 2026: The death toll from the earthquakes in La Guaira state alone has risen to nearly 5,100, according to a new report — a figure significantly higher than the previously reported national toll of 1,943. (per The New York Times)