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Powerful twin earthquakes that shook Venezuela killed at least 32 people and injured more than 700, interim president Delcy Rodriguez said on Thursday.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit about 160km (100 miles) west of Caracas at around 6pm on Wednesday (local time), followed less than a minute later by a magnitude 7.5 tremor, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Venezuela’s strongest earthquake since 1900 sent rescuers and locals clambering in the dark over flattened buildings, hunting for survivors and extracting people from under the ruins.
“At this time, we have received reports of 32 deaths” and “more than 700 injured,” Rodriguez said in an address to the nation, adding she did not yet have data on the “hardest-hit region” of La Guaira, located near the capital.
