More than 900 people have been killed in the Venezuela earthquakes and 3,360 others injured, according to the head of the country’s national assembly.
Jorge Rodriguez said in a state TV broadcast on Friday that the death toll had reached 920, with at least 172 people still believed to be trapped.
Two powerful earthquakes rocked Venezuela within seconds of each other on Wednesday. The second quake was one of the strongest tremors to hit the South American country in a century, at a magnitude of 7.5.
There has been 214 aftershocks since the initial quakes, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said at a televised briefing on Friday.
Buildings collapsed and residents ran into the streets for safety as tremors from the twin quakes struck the capital Caracas, with rescuers racing to find survivors who may be trapped beneath rubble.
Multiple states have been affected. Interim President Rodríguez said earlier that La Guaira, a region north of the capital, had been hit the hardest.
A state of emergency has been declared while airport, rail and transport services have been halted.
Earlier on Friday, Delcy Rodríguez said 589 people had been killed, more than doubling Thursday’s toll of 235.
She said 2,980 people had been injured – seeming to revise downward the government’s earlier figure of 4,300.
Dozens of people have also been rescued alive, which “brings us joy that they can embrace their families and loved ones”, she added.
National assembly head Jorge Rodríguez – who is the interim president’s brother – then later announced another jump in the death toll, to 920, on state TV.
In La Guaira, 243 people have been rescued, he said.
One Portuguese national and two Brazilian citizens were among those killed, their governments confirmed.
Three Spanish nationals were killed, the AFP news agency reported, citing its foreign ministry, with 99 unaccounted for. It also reported that 56 Portuguese citizens were among the missing.
There are fears many people still trapped under the rubble, and it is likely that the death toll will climb further as rescue efforts continue.
In the hours after the earthquakes, USGS said there was a 44% chance it could hit up to 10,000 and a 30% chance it could reach 100,000.
However, these figures were calculated based on previous earthquakes with similar characteristics and other factors such as the size and depth of each quake, so are not exact predictions.
Other factors play into the potential injuries and deaths, including the quality of the buildings and the time of day the quakes struck.
The area where the quakes struck is particularly vulnerable, the USGS noted.
It said many buildings there were made of reinforced brick masonry and adobe blocks, and the sheer force of the shaking meant a high chance of destroyed buildings and deaths.
US President Donald Trump referred to a “devastating number of deaths” in a post on Truth Social.
Jorge Rodríguez said hundreds of buildings have been damaged or lost, mostly in La Guaira.
This number includes 13 hospitals and 25 shopping centres, he added.
Photos and videos showed debris strewn on the streets. In some footage, people can be heard calling for help.
The BBC has verified footage of a 10-storey hotel reduced to rubble in La Guaira, and another video that recorded people screaming and fleeing as a multi-storey collapses in El Junquito, west of Caracas.
Other verified footage shows destruction further from the capital. One video shows a multi-storey building, reportedly a hotel, totally collapsed in Tucacas, on Venezuela’s coast, about 250km (155 miles) northwest of Caracas.
Mayor Gustavo Duque of Chacao, which forms part of the greater metropolitan area of Caracas, said on Thursday outside the rubble of one collapsed building that 11 people had died there and 23 had been rescued.
In an Instagram video, he said the team was trying to clear the rubble so that specialists could go in “to reach people who are hopefully still alive”.
“We’re trying to rescue as many people alive as possible,” he said.
Fuel supplies into the city have been cut off and internet blackouts have also been reported.
The quakes also occurred in a “doublet” sequence, according to the USGS, which is when two earthquakes of a similar magnitude strike shortly after one another in a similar place.
This suggests that the first earthquake helped to trigger the second, unlike a typical sequence where a larger one is followed by much smaller aftershocks.
Having two such large earthquakes so close together in time is particularly unusual, but not unprecedented in this part of the world.
Northern Venezuela was hit by a doublet in September 2025, but the quakes were much weaker, at 6.2 and 6.3-magnitude.
The Turkey-Syria earthquakes of February 2023, which killed more than 50,000 people, was also a doublet sequence.
The US has announced the deployment of warships and transport planes as well as mobilising $150m (£113m) in aid.
In a statement, the US military’s Southern Command said that its forces would provide support “for search and rescue teams” and “US interagency partners as they assess damage, locate the injured, and deliver critical, life-saving assistance”.
US President Donald Trump had said earlier that Washington was “ready, willing and able” to help and said he had instructed government agencies to “move quickly”.
“We will be there for our new and great friends,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that “early reports are not good”.
In the early hours of Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was “immediately” deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance.
Rodríguez thanked Trump on X, writing that her country would “never forget the helping hand” extended by the US.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said his country prepared 50 tonnes of equipment and supplies, as well as 300 rescuers who are “ready to depart for Caracas”.
The presidents of Ecuador and Mexico both said they would be sending aid, while Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said his country would assess what assistance it could extend to its “sister nation”.
The Dominican Republic would be sending specialised teams for search, rescue, and emergency care from its armed forces, President Luis Abinader said, and Chile’s President José Antonio Kast Rist offered support with coordinating humanitarian aid.
The United Nations’ relief chief said it was “fully mobilised” to support the people of Venezuela, including the rapid deployment of search and rescue teams and strengthening its humanitarian mission in the country.
“The coming days will require a massive collective effort,” Tom Fletcher said in a statement.
The EU activated its satellite surveillance system to help recovery efforts and was ready to “step up assistance”, its commissioner for crisis management Hadja Lahbib said.
Additional reporting by Mark Poynting, climate reporter
