Two powerful earthquakes struck northern Venezuela on Wednesday night, killing at least 164 people and injuring 971, according to the country’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez. The twin tremors, which local authorities said reached magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres, caused buildings to collapse, forced the closure of the main international airport, and prompted residents to flee into the streets of Caracas and surrounding areas. Rodríguez declared the coastal state of La Guaira a disaster zone and warned that the death toll was likely to rise as rescue teams worked through the rubble.

From a federal detention centre in Brooklyn, New York, Venezuela’s former president, Nicolás Maduro, issued a statement on social media calling for ‘maximum unity, maximum solidarity and maximum action’. Maduro, who was captured in a US military operation in Caracas in January and faces charges of narcoterrorism and drug trafficking in a Manhattan federal court, urged Venezuelans to support emergency workers and protect the most vulnerable. He remains in custody alongside his wife, Cilia Flores.

International reactions followed swiftly. Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, sent condolences to Rodríguez and said Moscow was prepared to provide assistance if requested. US president Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that the United States was ‘ready, willing and able’ to help, and a rescue team was being dispatched, according to a US official. Several Latin American governments, including those of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico, also offered support.

Early reports from Reuters had cited at least 32 dead and 700 injured, but the official toll was later updated to 164 fatalities. Rescue operations are ongoing, and authorities have cautioned that the number of victims remains provisional as emergency crews reach more remote areas and search for survivors beneath collapsed structures.