Over 58,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed in the powerful twin earthquakes that hit Venezuela last week, according to a preliminary satellite assessment released by NASA.
Some 1,700 people were killed and thousands remain missing following the quakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 – the strongest to hit the South American nation in more than a century.
"Approximately 58,870 buildings were likely damaged or destroyed across the affected region," based on satellite radar data gathered on June 25, the day after the earthquakes, according to researchers Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University.
The duo was citing data from the European Space Agency's high-resolution radar imagery satellite Sentinel-1.
This aerial view shows a collapsed multi-storey building and surrounding debris near a coastal road following the June 24 twin earthquakes in Caraballeda, La Guaira State, Venezuela, on June 29, 2026. (AFP Photo)
