Hundreds of people in Venezuela were trapped under rubble and many more remained unaccounted for on Thursday after two powerful earthquakes devastated areas in and around the capital Caracas, killing hundreds, damaging buildings and leaving thousands homeless.

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck about 160 km (100 miles) west of Caracas on Wednesday evening, followed less than a minute later by a magnitude 7.5 tremor, the strongest since 1900, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The disaster hit a country already weakened by years of economic turmoil, which left much of its infrastructure fragile and complicated rescue efforts as aftershocks rattled the capital and surrounding coastal areas.

Health Minister Carlos Alvarado said late on Thursday that around 235 dead had been received by medical centers. He did not give a total number of casualties.

International aid heads to Venezuela

UN HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS OFFICE

U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said the humanitarian affairs office was coordinating deployment of international urban search-and-rescue teams.

“The coming days will require a massive collective effort to support the government-led response and help communities,” he said.

Some 8 million people in the country required humanitarian aid even before the quake, he added, and the disaster could make them more vulnerable.

US STATE DEPARTMENT

The U.S. State Department said it is mobilizing $150 million in humanitarian aid for Venezuela. That included $50 million in new bilateral funding for partners such as the U.N.’s World Food Programme and nonprofit organization International Medical Corps and a $100 million contribution to a U.N. pooled fund.

Washington is also sending a disaster response team with two urban search-and-rescue units, while providing airlift, logistics and coordination support to move personnel and life-saving supplies into affected areas, the State Department said.

“That’s their most immediate need right now, is search and rescue efforts,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier told reporters.

The U.S. military is helping transport supplies and personnel as well as support other relief operations.

POPE LEO XIV

Pope Leo has sent €100,000 ($114,000) to Venezuela for quake relief from the Vatican’s charity fund, Vatican media reported.

WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN

Chef Jose Andres, founder of the humanitarian meal provider World Central Kitchen, said on Thursday his team had begun distributing meals in Caracas. He also said on X that his Longer Tables Fund will immediately contribute $1 million to help Venezuela.

EL SALVADOR

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said on X that 300 rescue workers and paramedics were prepared to travel to Venezuela, along with 50 tons of medical supplies.

MEXICO

A team of rescue workers and medical personnel left for Venezuela on Thursday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said.

Mexico is sending 250 military rescue personnel, five rescue dogs, four aircraft, a drone, rescue equipment and medical supplies.

COLOMBIA

Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management said it had mobilized an urban search-and-rescue team of more than 60 people, four dog teams, and 12 metric tons of equipment for Venezuela.

Nine firefighters from the city of Cali were going to assist with search-and-rescue efforts, the mayor said.

ECUADOR

Ecuador plans to send a rescue team to Venezuela on Thursday, consisting of 46 urban search-and-rescue specialists, two search dogs and six metric tons of equipment, the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

PANAMA

Panama President Jose Raul Mulino said the country will send a rescue mission to Venezuela and is organizing humanitarian aid.

Mulino said authorities have also opened collection points for donations to be sent to Caracas as part of the country’s assistance response.

FRANCE

France said it is deploying an urban search-and-rescue unit to Venezuela including medical teams, engineers and dogs to help locate and extract survivors from collapsed buildings.

SPAIN

The Spanish defense ministry said a military plane would bring 57 soldiers from its search-and-rescue unit and 40 firefighters from the Madrid region to Venezuela. Spain’s development agency also plans to set up a field hospital in Venezuela.

ITALY

Italy’s civil protection agency said it was sending an advance team to Venezuela while Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said firefighters, the ministry of defense and the air force were mobilizing to offer help.

STARLINK

Starlink will provide free services to its users in Venezuela for a month

The company is also working to “rapidly deploy Starlink terminals and restore connectivity to the hardest-hit areas,” Starlink said on X

Jorge Rodriguez, head of Venezuela’s national assembly and brother of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, said earlier in the day that 200 people had been trapped, with 250 buildings damaged or destroyed.

At least eight hospitals, the headquarters of the Venezuelan Red Cross and the French embassy were among buildings reported to have been badly damaged.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said some 70,000 families in La Guaira state had been affected.

‘DISASTER ZONE’

La Guaira, the coastal state adjoining Caracas and home to the capital’s main airport, was among the hardest-hit areas.

“It has become a disaster zone,” acting President Rodriguez said, adding that the government was working with private companies to bring in heavy equipment and speed up rescues.

Electricity remained scarce in parts of the state, while the Caracas airport was closed after suffering damage. Witness videos from the terminal showed scenes of panic as ceiling panels crashed down.

Emergency workers and volunteers searched through collapsed buildings into the night. But in some areas, residents said official help had been slow to arrive.

Yamileth Jimenez, a resident of La Guaira city, said her 19-year-old son was still trapped in the debris of their seven-story apartment building.

“He’s under the slabs and there’s no machinery to get him out,” said Jimenez, whose father died three days earlier.

In La Guaira city, volunteers dug through wreckage with their bare hands as families waited for news of missing relatives. Along the Caracas-La Guaira highway, streams of civilians headed toward the coast carrying water, food and medicine, stepping in as the scale of the disaster overwhelmed initial rescue efforts.

“We lost everything. We have no food or medicines … We hope help arrives quickly,” said Pedro Perez, 64, an upholstery workshop owner who said he had lost both his home and business and was sleeping on the street with his wife and children.

RESIDENTS RUSH OUTSIDE

Many Venezuelans were at home when the quakes struck during a public holiday. Residents rushed out of shaking buildings and into the streets as structures swayed or collapsed across Caracas and nearby coastal communities.

“When we went downstairs, the scene was like a horror movie,” said Maria Alejandra, a Caracas resident who did not give her surname.

Near the epicenter in Moron, a seaside town in Carabobo state, houses crumpled and residents were left without water or electricity.

Some 200 families living in a damaged residential complex in Moron were salvaging what belongings they could, including mattresses, televisions and washing machines. Some planned to stay with relatives, while others were waiting for the government to open shelters.

Denis Sequera, 47, said her 5-year-old granddaughter helped guide her 79-year-old father to safety as the shaking began, while Sequera helped her 70-year-old mother.

“She kept telling my dad, ‘Grandpa, get out, put your hands over your head,’ and she led him into the yard,” Sequera said. “We couldn’t go back inside. We slept outside and are now waiting for help.”

WEBSITE SHOWS MORE THAN 46,000 PEOPLE UNACCOUNTED FOR

The U.S. Geological Survey’s predictive modeling indicated the death toll was likely to rise into the thousands, with a substantial probability of exceeding 10,000.

A website created to track missing people and shared by opposition leaders listed more than 46,000 people as unaccounted for shortly after 7 p.m. (2300 GMT). Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Countries around the world pledged support, even some that have opposed Venezuela, which has suffered decades of international isolation amid a spiral of political repression, economic collapse and diplomatic pressure.

Rodriguez said international rescue teams were expected soon and thanked leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Washington moved to ease sanctions, authorizing transactions related to earthquake aid that would otherwise be prohibited.

Trump said the United States was “ready, willing and able to help.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would send rescue teams while the Pentagon would help with logistics and support Caracas’ damaged airport.

U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said the organization was coordinating international rescue teams and “a massive collective effort” would be needed in a country where 8 million people required humanitarian assistance before the quake.

The U.N.’s Venezuelan human rights mission urged the government to lift restrictions on some social media, calling connectivity a “matter of life and death.”

SpaceX’s SPCX.O Starlink said it would provide free service through July 25 for new and existing customers in affected areas and was working to deploy terminals to the hardest-hit zones to help restore communications.

In the country’s economically vital oil sector, foreign energy companies said their operations had not suffered major disruption and oil infrastructure appeared largely spared.