Five days after twin earthquakes — magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, separated by 39 seconds — struck Venezuela’s coast and capital, the confirmed death toll has risen to 1,719. More than 46,000 people remain missing. The critical 72-hour window for finding survivors alive has passed, but rescuers are still pulling people from the rubble — including one man freed after 106 hours underground — and disaster management experts say the official figures are almost certainly a significant undercount of the true scale of the catastrophe.
The Latest Figures
At least 1,719 people have died and another 5,034 people were injured, Venezuelan lawmaker Jorge Rodríguez confirmed Monday. Rescue workers are still undertaking operations, searching for people thought to be under the rubble.
At least 1,450 people were killed, more than 3,150 were injured, and more than 46,600 were reported missing according to the Wikipedia live tally of the disaster. The mainshock was the strongest earthquake in Venezuela since the 1900 San Narciso earthquake.
The gap between those confirmed dead and those missing reflects the enormous challenge facing rescue teams. In a disaster of this scale, many of the missing are in areas where communications have been cut, roads destroyed, or access blocked by collapsed structures — making it impossible to determine quickly whether they are alive, dead, or simply unreachable.
Why Experts Believe the True Toll Is Higher
On June 29, when the death toll stood at approximately 1,450, The New York Times reported it may be a “substantial undercount,” noting it could take weeks to realise the true extent of destruction. Architectural engineering professor Emily So from the University of Cambridge expected the toll to rise significantly once more bodies are removed from the rubble.
Following discrepancies between government updates on casualty numbers, the Venezuelan Education-Action Program on Human Rights called for independent verification and government transparency.
NASA researchers estimated that approximately 58,870 buildings were damaged or destroyed by the twin earthquakes, based on satellite radar data from the Sentinel-1 satellite operated by the European Space Agency. The report determined the impact of the earthquakes using radar analysis and reflects abrupt surface changes consistent with damage.
Survivors Still Found After Days Underground
The passing of the 72-hour window has not ended the rescues.
Teams from the United States, France and Venezuela pulled a man and his son from the ruins Sunday morning after they had spent four days trapped beneath the rubble. Covered in dust, the pair were carried on a black tarp into an ambulance, where they were given intravenous fluids. The State Department posted a video on X showing helmeted rescuers lifting a crying baby, wrapped in a blanket, from the rubble. A Colombian rescue team also saved an 11-year-old boy who had been trapped about 10 feet beneath the debris after locating him with a scanner. He was carried away on a stretcher with a broken arm, while his mother and sister were killed.
Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez posted a video on social media showing a man rescued from a collapsed building after 106 hours trapped under the rubble.
The United Nations humanitarian affairs agency said Saturday that a total of 44 international urban search and rescue teams, comprising 2,245 specialists and 140 search dogs, had been deployed to Venezuela.
The Government Response — and Growing Criticism
Many Venezuelans, frustrated, claimed the government’s response was limited and insufficient. At one rubble site, government officials were seen taking selfies before leaving without participating in the recovery effort. Eighty members of a Swiss rescue team said their search dogs found several survivors beneath a rubble site but were unable to rescue them in time due to insufficient specialised manpower and some equipment breaking down.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado accused Venezuela’s government of closing the country’s airspace to prevent her from returning after the earthquakes. She also accused the government of blocking information and restricting communications, saying authorities were trying to keep Venezuelans in the dark about the scale of the emergency.
The information environment has compounded the human cost. Venezuela has one of the most restricted media landscapes in the world, making it difficult for residents or concerned loved ones abroad to gain information about damage or casualties. More than 200 websites were blocked in the country in the immediate aftermath, according to internet freedom monitor VE sin Filtro.
La Guaira: The Hardest-Hit State
La Guaira, located in the north of the country on the coast, is home to one of the largest seaports in Venezuela and Simón Bolívar International Airport, which serves the capital, Caracas. It is one of the most populated states in the country with an estimated population of around 300,000 inhabitants. The state bore the brunt of the earthquake damage.
Rescue efforts are still under way in La Guaira. “We are beyond the 72-hour critical window, but this is one of the miracles of this country — rescuers are still being able to pull out alive people,” a UN official said. “Yesterday alone, seven persons were moved out of the rubble.”
The state experienced a similar catastrophe in December 1999, when a landslide caused by torrential rains led to the deaths and disappearances of thousands. The infrastructure rebuilt after that disaster has now been devastated again — complicating both rescue operations and any long-term reconstruction effort.
What the Coming Days Will Determine
With tens of thousands of people still unaccounted for, criticism over the government’s emergency response and limited access to heavy equipment in the hardest-hit state of La Guaira continues to mount. Time is running out to rescue those still trapped beneath mountains of debris. “We are in critical hours, in crucial hours to continue rescuing lives,” Rodríguez said in a televised address.
The true scale of the disaster — one that the USGS’s probabilistic model suggested could ultimately reach a death toll in the tens of thousands — will not be known for weeks. What is clear now is that this is already one of the deadliest natural disasters in Venezuela’s modern history, and the numbers will continue to rise.
