The Venezuelan government raised the death toll from the double earthquake of June 24 to 4,930 this Thursday, according to the official report released by Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, which also states that there are 16,740 injured and 6,462 people rescued alive.
The tragedy began on June 24 when two earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 struck northern Venezuela, with epicenters in the states of Yaracuy and Carabobo, just 39 seconds apart.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) classified it as the strongest earthquake in Venezuela since 1900 and issued a red alert with estimates of between 10,000 and 100,000 possible fatalities.
Since then, the official death toll has steadily climbed: 164 deaths on June 25, 920 on the 26th, 1,430 on the 27th, 1,943 on June 30, 2,645 on July 3, 3,535 on July 6, 4,490 on July 12, and 4,829 on Wednesday. The report this Thursday adds 101 additional deaths in 24 hours.
The official document also details that 128,324 families have received assistance, while 21,210 people remain housed in 107 temporary camps and another 17,907 are without housing.
Regarding infrastructure, Nicolás Maduro's regime reports 856 affected buildings and 190 completely collapsed, with La Guaira—declared a Disaster Zone—, the Capital District, Carabobo, Yaracuy, Miranda, Aragua, and Falcón identified as the hardest-hit areas.
The humanitarian response mobilizes 30,989 personnel deployed, 31,745 volunteers, and 2,278 international rescuers from more than 30 countries. A total of 10,063 tons of food and 26,738,575 liters of water have been distributed, and 35,781 patients have been treated.
The seismic sequence continues: the official report records 1,308 aftershocks since the main quake, a figure that reflects the ongoing geological instability in the region, situated at the boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates.
One of the biggest controversies surrounding the disaster is the lack of official figures for the missing.
The Maduro government has not released that information, while the UN estimates that up to 50,000 people remain unaccounted for, and the civic platform "Encuéntralos" recorded more than 71,000 as of June 29.
The discrepancy between the official count of 4,930 deaths and the USGS estimate—projecting up to 100,000 fatalities— fuels doubts about underreporting that international organizations and independent media have pointed out since the early days.
Among the victims, there are at least seven confirmed Cuban deaths and 21 missing individuals, concentrated in buildings in La Guaira such as Coral Park, Oasis Beach, and Coral Beach.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba stated on June 27 and 29 that it had no official confirmation of compatriots among the victims, a stance that drew criticism in light of citizen reports documenting specific cases.
The figure of 4,930 dead makes the double earthquake of June 24 the deadliest natural disaster in Venezuela in over a century, and experts warn that the number will continue to rise as search efforts among the rubble persist.
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