Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez has declared a state of emergency after strong back-to-back earthquakes and nearly two dozen aftershocks shook the country, collapsing buildings in the capital, Caracas.
Appearing on state television flanked by her brother Jorge, the head of the national assembly, and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, Rodriguez said she extended her condolences to the families of those k!lled.
The Maiquetia International Airport, located near Caracas, would close following “serious damage” to its infrastructure, Delcy Rodriguez said, after two tremors of 7.2 magnitude and 7.5 magnitude, respectively, caused buildings to crumble in the capital.
The twin earthquakes k!lled 32 people and injured more than 700, the nation’s interim president said Thursday, after the massive shocks collapsed entire buildings and sent people running in panic.
Reporting from Caracas, journalist Noris Soto says many people were in their homes when the powerful earthquake hit because it was a public holiday in Venezuela.
“I was at home, we were watching the World Cup like a regular holiday, and then we felt this huge movement, this huge shock. And then all I could see was shattered glass. My building was fractured right in the middle,” Soto told Al Jazeera.
“People were trying to get out of the apartment, trying to get out of their houses. What I can say is that we were not prepared for what happened today. This is a very critical situation. We are all in shock. People are still trying to process and to understand what just happened to us today.”
People were not sure how to handle the situation since the last quake to hit Venezuela was in the 1960s, she said.
“You feel like the Earth beneath you is shaking, and you’re not sure if we’re going to make it. It’s a frightening situation for anybody. This is not something that I would wish on another person.”
The level of destruction to the country remains unclear, Soto noted.
“We haven’t been able to access much information from the ground because all the lines of communications – the phone lines and the internet – are down. But the little information we have been able to gather is that the situation is even worse.”
She added, “People have lost their homes and basically have lost everything.”