“Venezuela in emergency after double earthquake; message from Delcy Rodríguez generates expectation”

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“Attention: shortly I will address Venezuelans to report on the situation following the strong earthquake that has affected our country”, was the first official statement from the acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, after the two earthquakes that shook the country.

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The earthquakes, with a magnitude of 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, were reported by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and caused scenes of panic in different areas, including the city of Caracas.

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The telluric movements occurred a few minutes apart and were felt in wide regions of the Venezuelan territory, according to data collected by international agencies.

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The impact of the tremors caused serious damage in Caracas, where buildings collapsed and other structures sustained varying degrees of damage, according to observations made by EFE in the Venezuelan capital. So far, authorities have not released official figures on injuries or deaths.

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The United States National Tsunami Warning Center (USGS) indicated that both events formed a “seismic doublet”, a phenomenon in which two large-magnitude earthquakes occur almost simultaneously in the same region. Subsequently, the official information was updated to identify the 7.5 earthquake as the main event of the sequence, while the 7.2 one was classified as a foreshock.

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A 7.1 magnitude earthquake shook several regions of Venezuela: there is a tsunami alert for Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire

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The USGS indicated that the first earthquake occurred about 24 kilometers from San Felipe, in the state of Yaracuy, with a depth of 21.9 kilometers. The second one, with a magnitude of 7.5, had its epicenter in the town of Yumare, also in Yaracuy. After the earthquake recorded off the Venezuelan coast, the Tsunami Warning System canceled the warning it had issued for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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So far, Venezuelan authorities have not released official information regarding the magnitude or exact location of the earthquakes. During a tour of the capital, the EFE agency confirmed the collapse of two buildings in Altamira square, in eastern Caracas, with no data available on possible injuries or fatalities. Officials from Civil Protection, members of the Chacao Municipal Police, and neighbors were working at the scene, searching for potential victims among the rubble.

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Other buildings in Chacao, a municipality of the Caracas Metropolitan Area considered a seismic zone, showed significant damage and cracks in their structures. Yaritza Moya, a resident of Los Palos Grandes, told EFE: “Suddenly it started moving horribly, horribly. Everything moved, things started falling in the house”. The woman pointed out that she was watching the World Cup from her apartment when the tremor occurred.

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So far, Venezuelan authorities have not released official information regarding the magnitude or the exact location of the earthquakes

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In different sectors of Caracas, power outages persisted, a situation that affected the operation of traffic lights and communication services, especially telephony and the internet. Many people remained on the streets, inside vehicles, or in open spaces for fear of new aftershocks.

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Videos circulated on social media showing falling objects and material damage in different parts of the country. The most recent precedent of an earthquake of similar magnitude in Venezuela occurred in 2018, when a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in the state of Sucre was felt in at least ten countries in the region, including Brazil, Guyana, and several islands in the Caribbean.

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