Earthquakes Kill at Least 4,118 in Venezuela, Destroy Housing Projects

Two earthquakes of 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude struck Venezuela's north coast less than one minute apart on 24 June. The Guardian reported that the quakes killed at least 4,118 people and injured nearly 17,000. The OPPE 25 government housing project in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, was reduced to rubble.

Gabriel González, a 45-year-old construction worker, received the keys to his apartment there in 2013. He and his wife Rosa spent 24 hours buried under the rubble before rescue. His 22-year-old son Daniel and mother-in-law Esmeralda remain missing two weeks later.

Nicolás Maduro was abducted by Donald Trump on 3 January. Delcy Rodríguez was installed as acting president that month. The Guardian reported that a poll showed 63 percent of Venezuelans disapproved of Rodríguez's handling of the disaster, while nearly half thought fresh elections more urgent than reconstruction.

Carlos Genatios, who served as science and technology minister after Chávez took power in 1999, stated the earthquakes released energy equivalent to 240 Hiroshima atomic bombs and were much worse than the 7.0 magnitude quake in Haiti. Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have migrated in recent years. Roberto Dupuy, a 65-year-old cook, lost his daughter when two of OPPE 25's seven towers collapsed.

Marciel Edilberto Llarve lived in OPPE 33, which also collapsed. Milagri Nohemi Rodríguez Guanire, 34, flew in from Chile to search for her mother Ymelda Coromoto Guanire in the rubble. Nicolás Maduro stated during a court appearance: "I’m innocent.

I’m a decent man.