CARACAS: Two shallow, back-to-back earthquakes—a 7.2 magnitude foreshock followed 40 seconds later by a massive 7.5 magnitude quake—struck Venezuela’s northern coast, killing at least 32 people and injuring over 700.

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared a state of emergency as first responders race to rescue residents trapped under collapsed homes.

It is the most powerful seismic event to hit the country in more than a century, and officials expect the death toll to rise.

In Caracas, the powerful tremors caught residents completely unprepared, as the city’s major fault line had been quiet since 1967.

Streets quickly filled with panicked citizens, many still in their pajamas, who are now too afraid of persistent aftershocks to return indoors.

Terrified survivors described scenes “like a horror movie,” including families returning to find their homes entirely destroyed and individuals narrowly escaping malfunctioning, violently shaking elevators.

Expert analysis indicates that the high fatality and injury counts are directly tied to how older buildings in the country were constructed.

Structural engineers and geophysicists noted that while Venezuela adopted stricter international safety codes in recent decades, many concrete and unreinforced masonry structures built prior to the 1970s simply could not withstand the shaking, leading to catastrophic collapses in populated areas.

Venezuela’s vital oil infrastructure appears to have escaped widespread physical damage, as major energy hubs like Maracaibo were located away from the hardest-hit zones.

Global energy firms, including Shell, report that their local employees are accounted for with no injuries. However, widespread and extended power outages across the country are expected to temporarily choke crude oil production until the electrical grid is restored.

The catastrophe will heavily test the United States’ commitment to stabilizing Venezuela following the US-backed political transition of power in January.

Just one day after publicly boasting that the country was “doing great,” US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he has ordered federal agencies to prepare rapid aid.

The disaster threatens to plunge the nation’s 28 million people deeper into economic turmoil as they already battle severe inflation and an ongoing humanitarian crisis.