Roughly 235 people have died and 4,300 or more were hurt after twin earthquakes leveled buildings across Venezuela’s north on Wednesday evening. The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes hit about a minute apart and rank among the most powerful to strike the country in over a century. Shaking reached as far as Brazil’s Amazon. La Guaira, the coastal zone just above Caracas, took the brunt of the damage, and its airport remains shut down, choking off the flow of aid. The toll is likely to keep rising, with thousands of residents still unaccounted for and neighbors clawing through rubble by hand—in many cases, without the heavy equipment authorities had pledged. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez—installed by Trump—declared a national emergency and pledged a $200 million fund to rebuild wrecked homes and hospitals. Venezuela straddles the South American and Caribbean plates, where powerful quakes are uncommon. The U.S. Treasury eased some sanctions through Oct. 23 to clear the way for relief transactions, while Washington and other governments rushed search teams, medical supplies, and rescue dogs to the worst-hit areas.
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