Severe Earthquake in Venezuela: Swiss Aid Arrives in Caracas

From the capital district of Chacao, 18 survivors were rescued from a single collapsed house, according to Mayor Gustavo Duque. In the coastal state of Falcon, Governor Victor Clark reported 22 injured and 15 missing adults. According to initial findings, in the first hours after the quakes, rescue teams were primarily occupied with freeing people from the rubble.

Severe Damage in Caracas and La Guaira

Vice President Delcy Rodríguez spoke of an "incident with serious consequences" on state television and said: "There are states that are particularly affected," including La Guaira. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on television: "We are dealing with an extremely alarming situation." The country's political leadership is thus visibly involved in coordinating the crisis response.

Even before the earthquakes, nearly eight million people in Venezuela were dependent on humanitarian aid, according to estimates by aid organizations. The destruction now added to the situation is significantly worsening conditions on the ground, as hospitals, roads and power grids have been damaged in several regions and the supply of drinking water and food has been partially interrupted.

Political Reactions Within the Country

International assistance was announced immediately. The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, wrote on the platform X that 300 rescue workers and paramedics as well as 50 tons of relief supplies were ready to be brought to the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. Offers of aid also came in from other Latin American states as well as from Europe.

In the relatively nearby cities of Puerto Cabello and San Felipe, slightly more than 400,000 people live combined, according to USGS data. A significant portion of the damage is thus concentrated in an area where the already strained supply situation additionally complicates disaster response.

International Aid Is Being Mobilized

A spokesperson for the Swiss deployment team stated: "Unser Team in Venezuela arbeitet eng mit den Behörden zusammen, um die Prioritäten festzulegen". The goal is to support the search for those buried and to reinforce medical assistance in the hardest-hit regions.

US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social of a "devastating death toll" and offered aid. This statement came amid the already tense relations between the governments in Washington and Caracas; whether and in what form US aid was actually pledged remained initially unclear.

Regardless, a Swiss specialist team reached the capital, Caracas, overnight on Thursday. The team of experts in urban search and rescue (USAR) was deployed at the request of the Venezuelan government, according to Swiss authorities. It brings its own equipment for locating buried individuals as well as medical devices.

Swiss Specialist Team Arrives in Caracas

Alongside these events, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurred off the east coast of the Japanese island of Honshu in the Tohoku region. According to the Japanese weather agency, it struck at a depth of about 50 kilometers; no tsunami warning was issued. Based on current understanding, the two events are seismologically unrelated.

Venezuela's national civil protection agency set up emergency shelters in schools and sports halls and urged the public not to enter damaged buildings. Power outages occurred temporarily in several districts of Caracas, and mobile phone networks were overloaded. Aid workers on the ground reported long traffic jams caused by streets blocked with debris.

The government called on the population to donate blood, as hospitals in Caracas and in the affected states recorded a sharp increase in casualties. Several Latin American countries offered to receive injured patients in specialized clinics, provided transport capacity is available.

Initial Casualty Figures and Situation Report

Preliminary official figures on Thursday morning (local time) put the death toll at at least 164, with nearly 1,000 injured. These numbers may rise further, as several localities have not yet been fully reached and recovery work in the rubble of the collapsed buildings continues.

International observers pointed out that the combination of high earthquake magnitude, shallow focal depth and a humanitarian situation already strained before the disaster is significantly complicating the response. The coming days will show whether coordinated international aid can be scaled up quickly enough to limit further damage.

Outlook for the Coming Days

For Switzerland, the deployment in Venezuela is one of the largest humanitarian operations in Latin America in years. According to current planning, the specialist team is to remain in the area of operations for several weeks, depending on the situation on the ground and the availability of additional personnel.