The combination of two powerful, very shallow earthquakes just 39 seconds apart explains much of the devastation left by Wednesday's earthquake in north-central Venezuela, where the latest official toll exceeds 1,450 dead and 3,150 injured. The satellite images that have gradually emerged confirm a trail of collapsed buildings along the coast, the most densely populated and hardest-hit area.

Both quakes measured over 7.0 magnitude, with tremors being felt as far as more than a thousand miles away in Brazil’s Amazon region.

Two powerful earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, about 39 seconds apart, struck north-central Venezuela on Wednesday afternoon, collapsing buildings in the capital, Caracas, and…