Overview
- Two back-to-back earthquakes on June 24, measured at about 7.5 and 7.2, collapsed multiple high-rise apartment towers and damaged Simón Bolívar airport and key utilities on the northern coast.
- Authorities have confirmed roughly 1,943 deaths and more than 10,500 injuries while tens of thousands of people remain unaccounted for and satellite analyses suggest tens of thousands of buildings were damaged or destroyed.
- Local volunteers and neighbors have led most search-and-rescue work using shovels, ropes and bare hands because heavy machinery and some official teams arrived slowly.
- Videos and eyewitness accounts show some police and soldiers commandeering aid and taking goods from rubble, and officials have detained several officers for allegedly appropriating assets.
- Dozens of foreign rescue teams and major donors have offered help but visa rules, damaged ports and strict authorization requirements have hampered access, and years of weak infrastructure and recent political turnover have left public services ill-equipped to manage a prolonged relief effort.