Two Magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 Quakes Hit Venezuela, Injuring 1,520

Two major earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday, the first a Magnitude 7.2 and the second a Magnitude 7.5 less than a minute later, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

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The first temblor happened at 6:04 p.m. Venezuela time about 15 miles northeast of San Felipe, Venezuela, and the second, larger quake hit 39 seconds later.

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The U.S. Geological Survey said that, based on data from the quakes and the type of structures common in the area, a widespread disaster, including many casualties and extensive damage, is likely.

In Caracas, people evacuated swaying buildings and remained outside, and a woman told the Reuters news agency, “The scene was like a horror movie,” after she managed to open a door and leave her building.

President of Venezuela’s National Assembly Jorge Rodriguez said Thursday on state media that at least 1,520 people were injured, while NBC News reported that at least 157 people were still missing and almost 3,000 families are impacted by the earthquakes.

Even without a national EEW, some people in Venezuela received warnings seconds or even minutes before the shaking began through Google’s Android Earthquake Alerts system, the AP reported.

The warning system relies on crowdsourced data from sensors in individual cellphones to detect seismic events and send warnings to other phone users in the area, and Richard Allen, director of the Berkeley Seismology Lab, said it has expanded since it rolled out in 2020 with 250 million people receiving alerts in 2020, to over 2.5 billion today.

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Pericles Sánchez, a 39-year-old Venezuelan writer in Caracas, said, “It wasn’t until we were already outside that we started to feel it,” after receiving an earthquake warning on his Android phone minutes before the earthquake reached his home.

In Bogota, Colombia, Diogenes López, 36, said an earthquake alert app on his phone alerted him of the quakes in his homeland even though he now lives there, and he worried, “All my family is there.”

The AP also reported that Robert de Groot, a USGS scientist, said over 4 million people were alerted to Wednesday’s quake, and the USGS operates an early warning system called ShakeAlert for California, Oregon and Washington.

As the emergency response unfolded, acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared a state of emergency and identified La Guaira, on the northern coast, as among the hardest-hit areas, Newsweek reported.

“What to know about earthquake early warning systems What to know about earthquake early warning systems As earthquakes struck from California to Venezuela to Japan, millions of people received warnings on their mobile phones, providing critical seconds to seek protection”

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NBC News said Rodríguez declared a state of emergency and announced on state television that the airport in Caracas was closed because of heavy damage, while school and nonessential activities were suspended.

NBC News also reported that Rodríguez expressed condolences to Venezuelans who lost family members and noted that 20 aftershocks had been recorded.

The stakes for preparedness were underscored by seismologist Lucy Jones, who told NBC News in a video briefing, “This is one of the really great, very difficult, very damaging earthquakes, because you combined a very large event with residences of a lot of people,” as people in Caracas remained outside and aftershocks continued.

In California-focused coverage, the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Angie Lux of the Berkeley Seismology Lab saying, “Sure, it could happen,” while Andrew Michael of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Science Center said, “I can’t give you exactly two 7s a minute apart,” even as he described how a major quake may not be over when the first shaking stops.