At least 164 people have been killed and nearly 1,000 injured after two powerful earthquakes rocked Venezuela within seconds of each other on Wednesday, interim President Delcy Rodríguez has said.

The second quake was one of the strongest tremors to hit the South American country in a century, at a magnitude of 7.5.

Buildings collapsed and residents ran into the streets for safety as tremors from the twin quakes struck the capital Caracas, with rescuers racing to find survivors who may be trapped beneath rubble.

Multiple states have been affected. Rodríguez said La Guaira, a region north of the capital, had been hit the hardest.

A state of emergency has been declared while airport, rail and transport services have been halted.

Both earthquakes shook the capital Caracas – home to around 5 million people – at about 18:04 local time (22:04 GMT) on Wednesday.

The first was magnitude 7.2 and struck the state of Yaracuy to the west of Caracas at a depth of 22km, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Less than a minute later, a stronger magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck nearby at a depth of about 10km.

While both epicentres were outside the capital, powerful tremors were felt across the city – causing buildings to shake and some to collapse entirely.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said multiple states had been affected by the quake, and 30 aftershocks had since been felt across the country.

They have largely affected its northern coastline, including La Guaira, Aragua, Carabobo and Falcón.

The quakes hit while Venezuela was celebrating a national holiday, meaning more people would have been at home than on a normal weekday.

Meanwhile, tremors were felt more than 1,000km (630 miles) away in the Colombian capital Bogotá.

Cabello said that in Caracas the worst-hit areas were the neighbourhoods of Los Palos Grandes and Altamira.

They were also among the worst affected in 1967, when the last major earthquake to hit the Venezuelan capital struck, killing 200 people and destroying buildings.

Rodríguez said at least 164 people had died and nearly 1,000 others were injured.

She said she did not yet have information on the “hardest-hit region” of La Guaira, north of the capital.

It is likely that the toll will climb as rescue efforts continue.

The USGS said there was a 44% chance it could hit up to 10,000 and a 30% chance it could reach 100,000.

However, these figures are calculated based on previous earthquakes with similar characteristics and other factors such as the size and depth of each quake, so are not exact predictions.

Other factors play into the potential injuries and deaths, including the quality of the buildings and the time of day.

The area where the quakes struck is particularly vulnerable, the USGS noted.

It said many buildings there were made of reinforced brick masonry and adobe blocks, and the sheer force of the shaking meant a high chance of destroyed buildings and deaths.

US President Donald Trump referred to a “devastating number of deaths” in a post on Truth Social.

Photos and videos showed debris strewn on the streets. In some footage, people can be heard calling for help.

Chacao Mayor Gustavo Duque Saez told reporters that at least two buildings had completely collapsed in the area, which forms part of the greater metropolitan area of Caracas.

He said 18 people had been rescued alive and more than 500 emergency workers were on site trying to pull out more residents.

Fuel supplies into the city have been cut off and internet blackouts have also been reported.

The BBC has verified footage of a 10-storey hotel reduced to rubble in La Guaira.

Venezuela’s main international airport, Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía – located on the outskirts of Caracas – has also been closed due to earthquake damage.

Metro and train services across the country have also been suspended, and school classes are also paused for the remainder of the week.

Rodríguez’s declaration of a state of emergency allows extra resources and personnel to be used for recovery efforts.

Many Venezuelans are spending the night on the street, with the country’s interior ministry urging people to leave damaged homes over concerns of building stability and gas lines possibly being affected.

A tsunami warning was issued for the coast of Venezuela and the islands of Aruba and Bonaire, but was later cancelled.

The second, 7.5-magnitude quake was the strongest to hit Venezuela since 1900, according to the USGS.

But another crucial factor is how far below the Earth’s surface it occurred.

Earthquakes which strike closer to the surface typically cause stronger and more concentrated shaking.

Both of Wednesday’s quakes occurred less than 25km below ground. “Shallow” earthquakes are defined as those which strike at a depth of 70km or less.

The combination of such a large magnitude with their shallow depth goes some way to explaining why the damage has been so extensive.

The quakes also occurred in a “doublet” sequence, according to the USGS, which is when two earthquakes of a similar magnitude strike shortly after one another in a similar place.

This suggests that the first earthquake helped to trigger the second, unlike a typical sequence where a larger one is followed by much smaller aftershocks.

Having two such large earthquakes so close together in time is particularly unusual, but not unprecedented in this part of the world.

Northern Venezuela was hit by a doublet in September 2025, but the quakes were much weaker, at 6.2 and 6.3-magnitude.

The Turkey-Syria earthquakes of February 2023, which killed more than 50,000 people, was also a doublet sequence.

US President Donald Trump said Washington was “ready, willing and able” to help and said he had instructed government agencies to “move quickly”.

“We will be there for our new and great friends,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that “early reports are not good”.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was “immediately” deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance.

Rodríguez thanked Trump on X, writing that her country would “never forget the helping hand” extended by the US.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said his country prepared 50 tonnes of equipment and supplies, as well as 300 rescuers who are “ready to depart for Caracas”.

The presidents of Ecuador and Mexico both said they would be sending aid, while Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said his country would assess what assistance it could extend to its “sister nation”.

The Dominican Republic would be sending specialised teams for search, rescue, and emergency care from its armed forces, President Luis Abinader said, and Chile’s President José Antonio Kast Rist offered support with coordinating humanitarian aid.

The United Nations’ relief chief said it was “fully mobilised” to support the people of Venezuela, including the rapid deployment of search and rescue teams and strengthening its humanitarian mission in the country.

“The coming days will require a massive collective effort,” Tom Fletcher said in a statement.

The EU activated its satellite surveillance system to help recovery efforts and was ready to “step up assistance”, its commissioner for crisis management Hadja Lahbib said.

Additional reporting by Mark Poynting, climate reporter