Overview
- Two powerful earthquakes on June 24 (magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5) struck La Guaira and Caracas, triggering massive building damage and large-scale displacement.
- Official figures report 3,342 dead and about 16,700 injured while roughly 10,700 people remain in 79 temporary camps and tens of thousands have lost homes.
- Hundreds of international rescue teams—part of a response that at its peak included 77 teams from about 30 countries—have largely demobilized after early-day extractions and complex rescues such as Hernán Gil’s.
- UN agencies estimate far greater structural damage than government counts, projecting roughly 60,000 affected buildings and an estimated $37 billion needed for reconstruction.
- With search-and-rescue giving way to heavy machinery work, authorities face fast-moving aftershocks, gaps in missing-persons data and urgent needs for shelter, medical care and debris management that will shape a protracted recovery.