Caracas Chronicles

Image obtained from Earthquake Network

We will keep updating this post

10.30 pm

Along with National Assembly president Jorge Rodriguez and Interior minister Diosdado Cabello, Delcy Rodriguez announced that the state of emergency has been decreed. She thanked the US, several other governments and international institutions for calling to offer immediate help. In Caracas, efforts continue to rescue victims from the ruins of the collapsed buildings. The Chacao mayor asked people in the most affected area (the border between Altamira and Los Palos Grandes, heavily impacted during the 1967 earthquake) to avoid the buildings and remain in the squares and Parque del este, where emergency camps are being installed, until the experts can assess the damage. The Maiquetia airport was closed. Full power and telecom have not been restored yet. 

9:30 pm

Reports from neighborhoods in Caracas where power and water are back. Damage to be assessed but it is considerable, at least as vast as in Venezuela’s worst earthquake of its modern history in 1967. Two of the buildings that collapsed today in Altamira-Los Palos Grandes are very close to the sites where two other buildings went down in 1967. Rescue efforts have started, and authorities are asking the population to refrain from going to affected zones: streets must be as free of traffic as possible to allow emergency vehicles to operate. Delcy Rodriguez is about to address the country. Many voices are demanding that CONATEL removes the blocking of Twitter. Many people can’t respond to messages because cellphone and internet services are deficient at the moment. Tsunami alert for coastal Venezuela (where the earthquakes caused extensive damage) ceased.

8:50 pm

Maiquetía airport suffered important damage to its structure. Maiquetía is in La Guaira, a coastal state that is said to have suffered significantly.

Catia La Mar

8:38 pm

It was 2 earthquakes (7.1 and 7.5)

From the AP:

“The U.S. Geological Survey said the first earthquake had a magnitude of 7.1 and its epicenter was west of the community of Morón, located along the country’s Caribbean coast, about 168 kilometers (104 miles) west of Caracas. The quake had a depth of 13 kilometers (8 miles).

The USGS reported an even larger 7.5-magnitude earthquake just a minute later. The second quake had a depth of 10 kilometers and its epicenter was 16 kilometers (10 miles) southwest of Morón.”

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Foreign seismic agencies like Servicio Sismologico Colombiano and USGS say that the earthquake at 6.04 pm reached 7.1 degrees in magnitude, followed by another one of 7.5. Venezuela’s FUNVISIS is not reporting yet. Cellphone signals and internet connections are down for millions of users. The epicenter has been registered near Moron, in Carabobo state, close to the coast, where a critical petrochemical complex, Pequiven, is located.

Several buildings have collapsed in Caracas in Los Palos Grandes, Altamira, El Paraiso, Caricuao, Sebucan, Chacao, Baruta and San Bernardino, according to videos shared by citizens on the ground. Firemen and civil protection services are starting to rescue survivors. No estimations of casualties so far but we must expect a heavy toll. 

People are on the streets. There’s vast damage in Maiquetia airport and more sites in La Guaira, as well as more cities in Miranda, Aragua, Carabobo and Falcon. More damage will be known as information can go through.

The Venezuelan government, through Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, is calling the public to remain in the streets and to report incidents to civilian protection authorities, such as Protección Civil Venezuela and Cuerpos de Bomberos de Caracas. He named the Los Palos Grandes neighborhood as one of the most affected in the capital city. 

The earthquake was felt across Venezuela and from Bogota to Trinidad and Tobago.

The US National Weather Service issued a Tsunami Advisory for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.