On 24 June 2026, doublet large strike-slip earthquakes affected northwestern and central Venezuela. The epicenter of the first earthquake was in Veroes Municipality, west of San Felipe, the capital city of Yaracuy. This earthquake, which measured , occurred at 18:04 VET and was classified as a foreshock. It was followed by a mainshock 30 seconds later centered off the coast of La Guaira, west of Catia La Mar. The two earthquakes caused widespread damage across the country, particularly in the capital Caracas and especially the state of La Guaira, where 80% of buildings collapsed. As of August 2026, at least 6,500 fatalities were officially confirmed, about 226,700 were injured or hospitalized, and tens of thousands still remain missing.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) system predicted the death toll could be significantly higher than the initial reports, potentially exceeding 10,000. The mainshock was the strongest in Venezuela since the 1900 San Narciso earthquake.
Tectonic setting
Northern Venezuela lies within a broad, transpressional boundary zone between the Caribbean plate and the South American plate rather than along a single fault. Its principal active structure is the Boconó–San Sebastián–El Pilar fault system, with slip transferred farther east through the Los Bajos Fault and onto the Warm Springs Fault near Trinidad. It is a compressional and right-lateral strike-slip system that extends for more than from the Venezuelan Andes to Trinidad and accommodates much of the dextral motion between the Caribbean and South American plates at about per year.
The 24 June 2026 doublet earthquake occurred within this plate-boundary zone near the San Sebastián fault system. The USGS located the foreshock near Yumare and the mainshock in the Caribbean Sea, northwest of Caracas. The USGS described the mainshock as shallow strike-slip faulting near the complex plate boundary along the San Sebastián fault system. This is consistent with the regional tectonic setting of east–west-trending right-lateral faults in northern Venezuela. The Boconó and San Sebastián faults were previously identified as potential sources of future large earthquakes. The Boconó Fault, which last ruptured in 1812, has accumulated a slip deficit that could be released as a magnitude 7.0–7.6 earthquake. Machel Higgins, a geophysicist at Florida International University, said the San Sebastián Fault was capable of producing a magnitude 7.1 earthquake.
The San Sebastián Fault is mostly offshore along north-central Venezuela, north of the Venezuelan Coastal Range. A short onshore segment near Simón Bolívar International Airport is also known as the Bruscas Fault. Farther east, the San Sebastián and El Pilar faults are separated by the Cariaco pull-apart basin. The offshore San Sebastián and El Pilar faults comprise of the total length of the plate boundary from longitudes −68° to −64°.
The same plate-boundary system has been associated with several large historical earthquakes in northern Venezuela, including events in 1641, 1766, 1812, 1900, and 1967. A 2015 marine seismic study attributed the 1900 San Narciso earthquake to a rupture on the eastern San Sebastián Fault. The 1900 rupture source may have been east of Maiquetía and along the northern margin of the Cariaco Basin, between the ruptures of the 1812 Caracas and 1853 Cumaná earthquakes.
Earthquakes
The first shock was an earthquake east-northeast of Yumare at 22:04 UTC and a depth of . It was caused by right-lateral strike-slip faulting on an east–west trending fault. The GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) catalogued the foreshock at and a depth of .
Thirty seconds later, a shock struck about east of the first event at a depth of . The epicenter of the first earthquake is in the Veroes municipality in the state of Yaracuy. The second quake was centered off the coast of La Guaira state near Catia La Mar. This earthquake was caused by either right-lateral strike-slip faulting on an east–west trending fault or left-lateral strike-slip faulting on a north–south striking fault. The USGS said that it likely ruptured along the San Sebastián Fault, with slip confined to a area. The GFZ reported this earthquake as and placed the epicenter northwest of Caracas. The GFZ's focal mechanism indicated right-lateral strike-slip faulting on an east–west trending fault. This mainshock is the largest in Venezuela since 1900, when a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck northeast of Caracas.
The GEOSCOPE Observatory only reported one earthquake with an epicenter area close to that of the USGS event epicenters, lasting for about two minutes. The focal mechanism solution provided by the agency indicated right-lateral strike-slip faulting that initiated at a depth of .
Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) published an earthquake finite fault model describing slip along the fault based on analysing surface displacement data from ESA's Sentinel-1 Earth-observation satellite. According to the model, the rupture involved an east–west trending, north-dipping fault. Because ground deformation data collected for both earthquakes were indistinguishable, the INGV's model combined them into a single event measuring containing two episodes of high energy release. Slip occurred along a section of the fault extending from near Morón to northeast of Caracas. The rupture initiated near Morón, which corresponded with the first earthquake; this event produced up to of slip at a depth of . The INGV estimated that rupture propagated towards Caracas at a velocity of per second. A second episode of energy release occurred 30 to 40 seconds later, corresponding to the second earthquake and representing the greatest energy release phase. The second event was associated with a maximum slip of offshore, north of Catia La Mar, at a depth of .
The USGS modelled two fault segments with a combined dimension of about and combined magnitude of 7.54, representing both events. These segments dipped 78 degrees south. Most of the rupture occurred west of the hypocenter of the first event, which ruptured a ~ east–northeast onshore portion of the fault. An east–west trending, offshore, fault rupture represented the second earthquake. Slip on the longer east–west segment was greater; more than of slip occurred for most of its length, peaking at in a region west of the fault. Around the hypocenter, the slip also peaked at . The zone of greatest slip (>) occurred at depth from west of Veroes Municipality to Simón Bolívar International Airport, a distance of about . The earthquake sequence lasted about 70 seconds.
Seismologists at Peking University modelled one earthquake at a depth of rupturing in an asymmetric bilateral way across a area. The earthquake propagated mainly eastwards with slip concentrating at shallow depths along the fault. Most of the slip occurred at east of the epicenter, peaking at some away; the model also indicated a significant vertical slip component in addition to the strike-slip motion. The greatest energy release occurred some 20–80 seconds after the rupture initiated, but continued for 90 seconds.
Six aftershocks were felt in Caracas within two hours of the mainshock. According to , 1,115 aftershocks were recorded from the time of the earthquakes to 8 July. These aftershocks mainly occurred in Yaracuy, Carabobo, Aragua, Miranda and La Guaira. The largest aftershock occurred at 22:54 UTC on 24 June and measured .
Shaking was also felt in Bogotá, northeastern Colombia, and northern Brazil, including in Manaus, Belém and Macapá, triggering evacuations. Tremors were also felt in the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao), in parts of the Dominican Republic, including Santo Domingo, and in Puerto Rico. In Trinidad and Tobago, coastal uplift of up to was observed in Galfa Point, along the southwestern peninsula of Trinidad.
A tsunami advisory was issued for the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands following the earthquakes, but was later rescinded. A high tsunami struck Isla de Mona and Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, while a high surge was detected at Fort-de-France, Martinique.
Casualties
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According to official government figures released on 24 August, at least 6,509 people died and 226,696 were injured or hospitalized. Tens of thousands were displaced; more than 16,300 people who lost their homes, and another 28,300 whose homes were uninhabitable. On 4 August, José Alejandro Terán, the governor of La Guaira, reported that 7,265 people died and 1,579 others were missing, though the national government did not reflect this. No official death toll update have been released by the government since late August, even though bodies continue to be recovered in La Guaira as recent as end-September.
Many people remained missing a month later, although the exact number remains debated. A crowdsourced database, Venezuela Reporta, created by a Miami-based Venezuelan, estimated that 41,300 people were missing, nearly all of them in La Guaira, while international sources and the United Nations estimated that the total number of missing persons still buried beneath collapsed buildings on 18 July could range between 40,000 and 50,000. The website Venezuela Looks for You said 18,100 people were missing as of 7 July. On another tracking persons website, Desaparecidos Terremoto Venezuela, approximately 29,000 people were reported missing as of 3 August. United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher also said that more than 50,000 people remained missing on 27 June. No official missing figures were put out by the Venezuelan government, with National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez saying it was to avoid speculation. An initial figure of 157 was reported by the government on 25 June, but that number was never updated. More than 100 Venezuelans who arrived in La Guaira aboard a deportation flight by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement went missing after their hotel collapsed. According to El País, at least 32 deportees were killed. By late August, only 30% of collapsed buildings in La Guaira had been searched, with many bodies still yet to have been recovered.
More than two hundred foreigners were identified among the dead, including 2 Brazilians, 4 Chileans, 9 Chinese, 24 Colombians, a Cuban, a Dominican, 3 Ecuadorians, 16 Italian-Venezuelans, and a Uruguayan. Portugal also confirmed that 100 citizens died, including at least 59 with Venezuelan citizenship, while 59 others were missing. Forty-five French citizens died and another 50 were missing. In addition to 40 deaths, Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares also said 138 citizens were missing. The Argentinian government said 6 citizens had died and 3 were missing. A spokesperson for the Trump administration said 3 Americans were among the dead and 12 were missing. Peru's foreign ministry confirmed 3 Peruvian citizens had died and 7 were missing.
Initial casualty reports remained scarce, particularly in more remote areas. This is believed to be due to disrupted communications or a possible media blackout in Venezuela. Since 24 June is a national holiday in Venezuela, commemorating the 1821 Battle of Carabobo, many people were at home instead of at work when the earthquakes struck.
Casualty estimates