Venezuela Earthquake: Aftershock Hits as Death Toll Surpasses 1,700

A 4.6 magnitude aftershock rattled Venezuela’s earthquake disaster zone early Monday, sending residents fleeing into the streets as rescuers continued to comb through rubble five days after twin powerful quakes devastated the northern state of La Guaira and killed more than 1,700 people.

Aftershock Strikes Near Epicenter, Suspending Metro Service

The aftershock struck at 7:01 a.m. local time, approximately 27 kilometers north of Caraballeda on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, according to the United States Geological Survey. Colombia’s geological survey placed the magnitude slightly higher at 5.1. Jorge Rodríguez, leader of the Venezuelan National Assembly, said there were no immediate reports of new structural damage, but the tremor sent residents in the capital Caracas rushing into the streets in panic.

“Here we are again, back in the street. I don’t know when we’ll have a moment of true peace,” said Concepción Hernández, 51, who evacuated her apartment building in the Chacao district of Caracas.

The Caracas Metro suspended service Monday to allow for infrastructure inspections following the aftershock.

Survival Window Narrows as Humanitarian Crisis Deepens

Relief organizations say the critical window for finding survivors is the first 72 hours after a disaster, though survival can extend if victims have access to food and water. With five days now passed since the twin quakes struck, rescuers and families holding vigil at search sites faced a painful reality as hope faded.

“We have to stay strong, even without food, without sleep,” said Ana Rada, watching as civil defense workers searched for her brother beneath the ruins. “Until I see the body, I still have hope.”

The government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez — who assumed power in January after the Trump administration forced out former President Nicolás Maduro — faces mounting questions about its capacity to manage the crisis. With limited financial resources, authorities have struggled to coordinate shelter, food, and medical care for thousands left homeless by the disaster.

Facing criticism over a slow response, the government promoted its rescue efforts on social and state-run media, sharing footage of Rodríguez visiting a school converted into a shelter in the hard-hit town of Catia La Mar.

US Sends 300 First Responders and $300 Million in Aid

The disaster has drawn significant American involvement, in part because of the Trump administration’s earlier takeover of Venezuela’s oil industry. A senior State Department official said Monday that 300 US first responders are operating on the ground alongside dozens of international rescue teams, with two dozen C-17 military transport planes arriving daily carrying supplies. Total US financial assistance now exceeds $300 million.

American military personnel are also helping repair damage to the port of La Guaira to allow more relief supplies to arrive by sea, and another team is assisting with air traffic management after the earthquakes damaged part of the control tower at Simón Bolívar International Airport.

Despite the scale of the response, the Trump administration is unlikely to grant temporary legal protections to Venezuelans already in the United States — a measure taken after the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the 2001 El Salvador earthquake. The administration has instead accelerated deportation flights and revoked temporary protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans.

Deported Miner Returns Home to Join Venezuela Earthquake Rescue

Among those digging through rubble in La Guaira on Monday was Jean Sosa, a miner who said he was deported from the United States in January after missing an immigration court hearing. He described an ordeal that began in shackles at an Arizona detention center and ended with immigration agents leaving him in southern Mexico without his passport, phone, or wallet. He made his way home by bus through five countries.

Since arriving in La Guaira on Wednesday to visit family, Sosa has worked alongside rescue teams in the absence of adequate government support, saying he had already pulled 20 people out alive.

“I’m not involved in politics, but I believe many people could have been saved if there had been equipment and support from top authorities from the very beginning,” he told the Associated Press.

Working without proper equipment, Sosa and other volunteers have improvised. “We’re working without gloves, without equipment, borrowing supplies, improvising bandages and whatever else we can,” he said.

Government and UN Report Vastly Different Casualty Figures

The full scale of the disaster remains contested. Jorge Rodríguez said that as of Monday, 15,866 people had been affected and 855 buildings had been damaged or destroyed. A preliminary NASA assessment based on radar imagery from European Space Agency satellites estimated the earthquake damaged or destroyed 58,870 buildings — far more than official figures suggest.

The United Nations has warned that up to 6.8 million of Venezuela’s nearly 30 million residents may be affected, whether through displacement or loss of access to basic services such as electricity and water.

With cellphone networks disrupted and chaos spreading across affected regions, many Venezuelans have turned to non-governmental digital databases to report missing relatives. More than 50,000 people have been listed as missing on one such platform, though it remains unclear how many have since been located.