Venezuela Earthquakes Kill At Least 2,295, Leave Nearly 50,000 Unaccounted For

Venezuela’s twin earthquakes struck on June 24, with officials saying at least 2,295 people died and another 11,267 were injured, while nearly 50,000 people remained unaccounted for as the death toll continued to climb.

“Based on facts observed and verified directly by our reporters or by informed sources”

20Minutos

Venezuelan lawmaker Jorge Rodriguez said the pair of earthquakes knocked down buildings and sent residents racing into the street, and he said 26,403 people had been impacted, including those who lost homes or saw serious damage to their homes.

20Minutos

The International Rescue Committee said children are among the nearly 50,000 people still missing, and searchers were combing through rubble with bare hands trying to find survivors.

The UN News report said needs were “skyrocketing” as the death toll rose, and it put the number of deaths confirmed at nearly 2,000 while also saying more than 6,400 people had been rescued so far.

In the hardest-hit northern region, the UN News account said some 1,000 buildings—including hospitals—had been damaged or completely destroyed, alongside more than 400 schools and water systems.

On Tuesday, June 30, a young boy named Klieber Morán was pulled from the collapsed Los Corales Garden building in La Guaira state, an area Reuters, The Guardian and the BBC said was worst impacted by the June 24 earthquakes.

Venezuela’s National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez said in a televised address that “a 2-year-old boy was rescued and is currently receiving care at a health centre in Caracas,” while the BBC said the rescue team was from Jordan.

ABC News

The Guardian described the boy as the only reported survivor on the sixth day of rescue efforts, saying he was pulled from the Los Corales Garden 1 building in La Guaira state by rescuers from Jordan.

NewsNation said a Virginia-based Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue team described pulling a baby boy and his mother from a collapsed apartment building as “quite an emotional experience,” and it quoted John Morrison saying “over the course of about 10 hours, it took us from talking to her the first time to extricating her child and then her from the structure.”

NewsNation also said the baby was a 9-month-old boy, “a little lethargic” but not injured, and that rescuers got baby formula from locals and passed it through a small access hole so the child could eat.

As rescue efforts continued one week in, the BBC said the death toll had risen to 1,943 with more than 10,000 people injured and tens of thousands more unaccounted for, while it reported that the massive tremors probably damaged or destroyed 58,870 buildings.

“Advertisement The port of La Guaira in Venezuela has turned into an improvised morgue, with coffins stacked one after another along the sea following the earthquakes in Venezuela”

Antena 3 Noticias

The BBC also said UNHCR warned that food shortages were widespread, basic services had broken down and communications had been largely severed in La Guaira, and it quoted UNHCR saying “Community tensions are rising as access to assistance remains constrained.”

UN News said UNICEF flown in enough supplies for 100,000 people for three months, and it reported that an initial 47-tonne shipment of humanitarian supplies from UNICEF arrived in Venezuela on Tuesday.

UN News added that UNICEF estimated $52 million is required to respond to the earthquake emergency as part of its wider 2026 Humanitarian Action for Children appeal for Venezuela, which stands at US$137.6 million and was, prior to the earthquakes, only 35 per cent funded.

The BBC reported that the World Health Organization said health services were under “extreme pressure,” and it warned of “an increased risk now of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases” such as measles and diphtheria due to low vaccination coverage.