A baby was rescued alive from the rubble by neighbors who were in the area of the collapse, in one of the few images of hope left by the two devastating earthquakes that shook Venezuela on Wednesday night.
The little one was unharmed, and the video of his rescue was widely shared, touching thousands of people around the world.
The Venezuelan authorities updated the toll of the disaster on Thursday: 188 dead and 1,520 injured, with approximately 200 people still trapped under the rubble. These figures surpass the previous count of 164 fatalities and 971 injuries, reflecting the magnitude of what is already considered the worst earthquake in Venezuela in more than a century.
The two earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 occurred on Wednesday at 6:04 PM local time, just 39 seconds apart, with epicenters in the Yaracuy area and the municipality of Yumare. Their shallow hypocenters—13 and 10 kilometers deep—intensified the destructive power on infrastructure that had already been weakened by years of economic crisis.
The rescue of the baby was not the only miracle recorded. Three brothers were pulled alive from the Mansión Charaima complex in Caraballeda, where five of the eleven floors of the building collapsed. "We are three. Are you brothers? Yes, we are three," one of them said upon being rescued.
The hardest hit area was La Guaira, the coastal city where the main airport of the country is located, now rendered unusable due to structural damage.
The AFP agency reported looting in the area, where residents reported people trapped under collapsed buildings. In Catia La Mar, a girl whose voice was heard amid the rubble died before she could be rescued; only her dog survived.
In Caracas, the Altamira neighborhood was one of the hardest hit. A 22-story building collapsed. Jean Alexander Capote, 48, lost everything: "My house completely fell down, I lost family, my mother-in-law died, my daughter is missing, I can't find her. What happened is overwhelming, we want help soon."
Yilsmaris Blanco, a resident of Catia La Mar, described the destruction with words that encapsulated the collective sorrow: “It was terrible. Everything, everything collapsed. We are alive, but there are people who are currently suffering with their relatives trapped, with their relatives underneath who they cannot get out.”
The acting president Delcy Rodríguez declared a constitutional state of emergency and designated La Guaira as a "disaster zone." She also ordered the suspension of the Caracas Metro, the Tuy Valley Railway, and school classes.
The international response was immediate. Donald Trump promised assistance to his "new and great friends" from Venezuela, and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the immediate deployment of search and rescue teams, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid.
Chile, Mexico, Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, China, India, and the European Union also offered collaboration. Pope Leo XIV allocated an emergency aid of over 100,000 dollars.
The United States Geological Survey estimated a 42% chance of between 10,000 and 100,000 possible fatalities through its automatic alert system, a projection that does not correspond to an actual victim count, but reflects the potential severity of the disaster.
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