- Date:
- June 24, 2026
- Location:
- Venezuela
Venezuelan earthquakes of 2026
Venezuelan earthquakes of 2026, a pair of severe earthquakes that struck northwestern Venezuela on June 24, 2026, roughly 100 miles (160 km) west of Caracas. The twin events arrived only 39 seconds apart, with moment magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 at 6:04 and 6:05 PM local time (22:04 and 22:05 UTC), respectively, and epicenters located within about 6.2 miles (10 km) of one another. The depth of the first earthquake was 12.6 miles (20.3 km), and the depth of the second was 6.2 miles (10 km). They represented a relatively uncommon form of seismic activity called a “doublet” or “earthquake doublet,” in which two distinct earthquakes have nearly identical seismic waveforms, hypocenters (that is, the foci or origin points of the tremors are underground), and moment magnitudes. Seismologists note that the earthquakes were the strongest to hit Venezuela since 1900, when a magnitude 7.7 temblor struck the region. The sudden onset of the disaster prompted the country’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, to declare a state of emergency.
The temblors caused widespread damage across the northern part of the country. Officials surveying hard-hit areas, which included Caracas and La Guaira state, reported that more than 250 structures had been damaged or destroyed across the region, in many cases trapping occupants and crushing nearby vehicles and infrastructure. Although recovery operations remained ongoing as of July 9, Venezuelan government officials reported that more than 3,800 people were confirmed dead and more than 16,700 were injured, with more than 40,000 people missing.
Seismologists suggest that the first event likely activated the second. This explanation seems plausible, as the tremors occurred within miles of one another on separate faults nestled within the Boconó fault system, with the rattling caused by the rupture along the first fault increasing the stress along the second, which was located closer to the surface, until the rocks gave way. The Boconó fault system is a complex network of faults running southwest to northeast across northwestern Venezuela—close to where it converges with the east-west–oriented San Sebastián fault system. Together both faults make up a strike-slip boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates (see also transform faults). The earthquakes were followed by dozens of aftershocks, the largest of which had moment magnitudes of 4.4 and 4.5 and struck east of Caracas.
