Two earthquakes in half a minute
Movement between the Caribbean plate and the South American plate activated a complex fault system. The result: two earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, separated by only 39 seconds and 13 kilometers away. The depth was barely 3 kilometers, which multiplied the impact.
“The two main earthquakes occurred in rapid succession and at very shallow depths, a combination that can easily cause significant damage to buildings and infrastructure,” explained Salvatore Stramondo, director of the Department of Seismology at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology of Italy.
Possible comparison with Türkiye and Syria
The dynamics are reminiscent of the violent tremors that affected Syria and Türkiye in February 2023. There two shocks of magnitude 8.0 and 7.5 occurred hours apart. In Venezuela the interval was seconds, but the double event pattern is similar.
Stramondo added: “In this case there was an interval of 39 seconds and a distance of 13 kilometers, although we know that there is a certain margin of error because the local network does not have a high density of monitoring stations.”
The Venezuelan seismic network has limitations. Therefore, the current data will be complemented with readings from other stations to accurately reconstruct the mechanism of the failure.
Venezuela, seismic country
The country has already experienced high intensity earthquakes in the past. An example of this is the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that shook Caracas on October 29, 1900.
Finally, the expert ruled out any relationship with the 7.0 magnitude earthquake recorded 25 minutes later in Japan, east of Honshu. “These are completely different events without any connection. We tend to perceive connections, perhaps influenced by temporal coincidence. However, this is a misconception,” concluded Stramondo.
