Back-to-back powerful earthquakes slam Venezuela, collapsing buildings in the capital of Caracas

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Back-to-back powerful earthquakes struck off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday evening, collapsing buildings and sending panicked residents into the streets.

The 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes roiled the region, with buildings evacuated in cities as far away as Brazil’s Amazon about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) away.

Late Wednesday, acting president Delcy Rodríguez said she was preparing to address the nation.

Rodríguez’s failure to address the nation within three hours of the earthquake, while her government did not give a report of injuries or fatalities in that time, was criticized by politicians and Venezuelans.

“The uncertainty becomes yet another layer of anguish,” Edmundo González, the opposition’s 2024 presidential candidate, said on X.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially said the first earthquake had a magnitude of 7.1, later revising that to 7.2, 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 22 kilometers.

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.

The quakes, among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century, struck shortly after 6 p.m. People evacuated swaying buildings in the capital Caracas, ...