Venezuela quakes kill almost 1,500, with millions more in need

Venezuela deploys 14,000 security forces as 10 more nations join rescue efforts in La Guaira

The death toll in Venezuela’s twin earthquake disaster reached 1,430 Saturday, and millions more were feared to lack sanitation and other basic needs, as the first US aid flights trickled into Caracas.

Facing public outrage at the response by local officials, US-backed interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodriguez said the country was “not alone”.

The US said one runway at Simon Bolivar International Airport was now functioning and that C-17 US military planes were landing there, while a naval ship had arrived off the coast.

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said search-and-rescue teams from at least 17 countries were being mobilised to help find survivors.

But the search for survivors saw desperate attempts by local residents to claw away rubble from apartment buildings that collapsed in Wednesday’s double-quakes. Experts say the first 72 hours after natural disasters are the key, narrow window for finding the living.

There was joy in the hardest-hit coastal area of La Guaira, north of Caracas, when locals pulled an infant alive out of the wreckage on Friday, some 32 hours after the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 tremors.

In one social media video, a man welled up in tears as he held the baby in his arms.

The United Nations’ migration agency said it had examined available population and damage data and had determined that “up to 6.76 million people could be affected” and would “require emergency shelter, safe water, sanitation and hygiene services, healthcare, protection support and essential relief items”.

National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez reported on Saturday 1,430 dead and 3,238 people injured, while the UN estimated US$6.7 billion in physical damage – equivalent to 6 per cent of Venezuela’s GDP.

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher on Friday said the death toll could continue to soar, adding that more than 50,000 people were missing.

Members of the Mexican rescue team known as the "Topos Tlatelolco Rescue Brigade" huddle as they prepare to depart for Venezuela, following two earthquakes, at Benito Juarez international airport in Mexico City, Mexico June 26, 2026. REUTERS

Venezuelans – already battered by years of a failing economy and the turbulence of the US intervention to topple leader Nicolas Maduro in January – were furious at the government.

Yessica Mendoza was forced to transport her own daughter to a morgue in Caracas after 25-year-old Yesimar Rodriguez and her husband Jhomel Anaya, 26, did not survive the tumbling debris of their home in La Guaira on Wednesday.

Venezuela twin quakes death toll hits 589 as rescuers comb rubble for survivors

“We were the ones who pulled them out ourselves. No help ever came,” said the bereaved mother, 43, who added that the couple would be cremated without a wake due to the rapidly advancing decomposition of their bodies.

Some Caracas residents jeered Rodriguez as she visited a destroyed neighbourhood on Friday.

“The government isn’t doing anything for the people,” residents yelled from behind cordons next to a pulverised building.

The government restricted access to La Guaira state on Friday, also announcing a military deployment to the disaster zone.

Read More: Rescuers race to find Venezuela quake survivors as death toll nears 1,000

Rodriguez said she had spoken with US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who “reaffirmed their commitment to supporting the response efforts”.

The US said earlier it was sending a disaster response team of more than 250 personnel, including three special search-and-rescue units with dogs trained to locate people trapped beneath the rubble.

Venezuela’s worst earthquake in more than a century has come after the oil-rich country endured more than a decade of economic collapse. The crisis has hollowed out hospitals and public services, driving millions to leave the country.

And the country is still in a fragile political transition six months after the US ousting of Maduro.

“Even before the earthquakes, millions of people across Venezuela were facing food insecurity, collapsing health services, protection risks, and limited access to basic services,” the UN and other aid agencies said in a statement on Friday.

Earthquakes of similar magnitude claimed more than 200,000 lives in Haiti in January 2010 and 73,000 lives in Kashmir in October 2005.

Also Read: Thousands feared dead in Venezuela quakes

Those killed in Venezuela included 28 Portuguese nationals, five Spaniards, two Brazilians, seven Chinese nationals, one Chilean and one Italian-Venezuelan.

Venezuela’s northern coast sits on a boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates but had not experienced a major quake since 1997.

1600 foreign rescue workers

Earlier, Venezuela's government said on Saturday that 1,600 members of foreign rescue teams had arrived to help search for survivors of the devastating twin earthquakes which killed more than 900 people this week, ​as it tightened access to the worst-affected state.

Residents and volunteers in La Guaira, a popular destination for beachgoers where at least 100 ‌buildings, many residential high-rises, were destroyed or damaged, have for days decried shortages of heavy equipment and a limited official presence.

Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez said in an overnight address on state television that 10 more countries were still to join rescue efforts and 14,000 military and police members were in La Guaira to patrol and take sanitary measures.

"In recent hours, Venezuela ​has received 17 flights carrying more than 1,600 members of rescue teams, and over the next 24 hours, the arrival of 25 additional flights ​is expected," said foreign ministry official Oliver Blanco.

"We thank the international community for its support and solidarity during these moments ⁠of uncertainty for Venezuelans," Blanco added on X in the early hours of Saturday.

En las últimas horas Venezuela ha recibido 17 vuelos con más de 1.600 integrantes de equipos de rescate y en las próximas 24 horas se espera la llegada de 25 vuelos adicionales.

Agradecemos el respaldo y solidaridad de la comunidad internacional en horas de desconcierto para… pic.twitter.com/ivPaC1omnQ

— Oliver Blanco (@OliverBlanco) June 27, 2026

Rescuers have been making their way to sites around La Guaira state and Venezuela's ​capital Caracas, although on Friday some areas were still largely without an official presence as families and neighbours struggled to find missing loved ones in the rubble, sometimes ​digging with their hands.

Officials closed the road between La Guaira and nearby Caracas on Friday evening, saying heavy traffic was preventing quick passage of emergency vehicles and official rescuers.

Read More: Rescuers race to find Venezuela quake survivors as death toll nears 1,000

Civilians who are not part of official rescue teams will need a credential to pass the roadblock and Reuters witnesses were prevented from using the main road on Saturday morning by police, while an ​older secondary road was choked with traffic.

The government had previously thanked civilians who brought aid, often by motorcycle, to desperate residents. Venezuelan state television showed images ​of thousands of pairs of shoes, clothing and other aid being collected by the government.

While the power remained out near the quakes' epicentre in Moron on Friday, as well as ‌fully down ⁠in La Guaira, it was being restored in other places, with Rodriguez saying that 60% of electricity had now been restored.

Venezuela's power grid, crippled by years of underinvestment and economic sanctions, regularly experiences problems, leading to daily, hours-long blackouts in some regions.

54,000 missing

Although the government has said hundreds are missing or trapped, more than 54,000 people are listed as unaccounted for on a website promoted by the country's opposition.

The U. Geological Survey estimated more than 10,000 deaths were possible from the magnitude 7.2 and ​7.5 quakes, which would place them among

Nearly ⁠seven million people could be affected, the UN said, estimating direct damage at about $6.7 billion.

The disaster could have for Rodriguez, who has tried to portray herself as an agent of change even though she served as vice president to Nicolas ​Maduro, who was ousted and arrested by the US in January.

Rodriguez spoke by phone with President Donald Trump and ​Secretary of State Marco ⁠Rubio on Friday after meeting with the US military's Northern Command and disaster experts.

The US said it was mobilising $150 million in aid and easing sanctions, while its military dispatched two ships and said helicopters and aircraft would support rescue efforts.

Among the rescue teams working in La Guaira are a team from El Salvador, whose President Nayib Bukele ⁠has hailed ​multiple rescues on his X account, including of a 15-year-old girl.

Looting has taken place at several ​sites in La Guaira, Reuters witnesses said.

Venezuela's oil production was not affected by the quakes, Oil Minister Paula Henao said on Friday, adding that fuel distribution would be guaranteed.