An 8.8 magnitude earthquake unleashes chaos in the Pacific with tsunamis

Citizen report after the earthquakes in Venezuela

An open source platform, driven by civilian volunteers, has recorded as of Thursday afternoon 204 total building collapses, 216 with serious structural damage and 298 with partial damage. The information comes from the site earthquakevenezuela.com.

The damage is mainly concentrated in La Guaira and the east-north of Caracas. The tool allows you to collaboratively document damage in homes, hospitals, schools and businesses.

The news outlet El Bus TV validated the initiative by broadcasting it publicly this Thursday and confirmed the responsible actions of the activists. Journalist Tony Frangie Mawad endorsed the open data map, highlighting its usefulness in assessing the extent of infrastructure damage.

These citizen actions complement official efforts in the face of the emergency. The authorities have momentarily reported 188 deaths and some 2,000 homeless families, although it is estimated that the numbers will increase. The platforms continue to receive reports to locate affected people and coordinate humanitarian aid.

The collaboration of the population is key to evaluating the magnitude of the crisis. Tools like earthquakevenezuela.com provide updated information on the hardest hit areas.

Rescue in La Guaira after the earthquake

Early Thursday morning, a double earthquake shook the Vargas state, in Venezuela. In La Guaira, a coastal town 20 kilometers north of Caracas, search teams worked tirelessly among the rubble.

The first survivor to emerge was a child, thin and covered in dust. Shortly after, a young woman managed to say: “There are three of us.” And so it was: a teenager emerged with difficulty. Three brothers, apparently unharmed, were pulled from a crack in what remained of a home.

The video of the rescue was recorded by Mario Ruiz, a neighbor who participated in the tasks. “God, you are merciful,” he exclaimed when he saw them safe. The images went viral on social networks as a symbol of hope.

“Look, we just saved a child,” is heard at the beginning of the video. The little boy, about six or seven years old, emerges from the wreckage. Behind him, his older sister climbs with help. “Are they brothers?” they ask. “Yes, there are three of us,” she replies. The third, the oldest, manages to get out without visible injuries.

The children’s father, exhausted and sweaty, only nodded when asked if his son was there. An older rescuer calmed him: “Let’s go step by step. Help is on the way. You must have faith.”

Hope after tragedy

La Guaira has about 40 thousand inhabitants, although the actual census will be uncertain until the dust settles. The night was long; Rescuers are still searching for more survivors. The miracle of these three brothers keeps hope alive.

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.