Earthquake: Venezuela’s Rodriguez confirms phone call with US Rubio

Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, on Thursday, said that she had spoken to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio by phone after her nation was hit by powerful twin earthquakes that killed at least 32 people.

“I spoke by phone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who expressed his solidarity and support for the Venezuelan people during these difficult times for our nation,” Rodriguez wrote on X.

“We appreciate this expression of solidarity with Venezuela during such a challenging period, marked by the impact of the natural disaster that has affected several regions of the country.”

Powerful twin earthquakes have killed 32 people and injured more than 700 in Venezuela, the nation’s interim president said Thursday, after the massive shocks collapsed entire buildings and sent people running in panic.

Rescue workers and residents were seen clambering on piles of rubble in the hunt for survivors after the disaster that prompted leader Delcy Rodriguez to declare a state of emergency.

The earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck the same area of Venezuela on Wednesday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), causing buildings in the capital to crumble and forcing the closure of the country’s main airport.

Addressing the nation early Thursday, Rodriguez said the government had “received reports of 32 deaths” and “more than 700 injured,” adding she did not yet have data on the “hardest-hit region” of La Guaira, located near the capital.

Rodriguez said earlier that 20 aftershocks had followed the quakes.

The quakes triggered panic in the capital and drove people into the streets, AFP journalists saw.

“The stairs came away, the whole wall cracked. Things fell from the ceiling. It was horrible,” said 54-year-old bank employee Odalis Escalona.

The United States is “immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela,” Rubio said on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that “the two major earthquakes that just hit the great people of Venezuela are both massive in scale and have left a devastating number of deaths.”

AFP