Caracas Shaken: Residents Describe Solitary Earthquake Fury
When journalist Nicole Kolster woke to a violent tremor inside her Caracas apartment, she was plunged into her own personal nightmare. “I saw the windows move and had to slip between the front door and a stone wall to protect myself,” she recalled in a BBC report.
The city was hit by two powerful quakes seconds apart: a 7.2 magnitude strike followed by a 7.5 one. Buildings caved, streets turned into impromptu evacuation zones and the full extent of casualties remains unknown.
Kolster, who lives in the heavily affected Palos Grandes district, stayed wedged between her front door and a stone wall for an hour before hearing neighbors urge people to leave the building. “An hour after the quake, everyone is still outside waiting for safety in case there’s an aftershock,” she said.
The tremors struck on a national holiday dedicated to Venezuela’s independence, yet many were at home during the day, heightening the shock. Witnesses describe tear‑filled faces, emergency calls from collapsed structures, and the desperate endeavour to rescue pets from their towers.
“There are fallen utility poles, we have no electricity, no signal,” Maria Elise, another Palos Grandes resident, said. Her neighbour recounts cracks in the wall and a lingering fear that aftershocks could worsen the situation.
This isn’t the first catastrophic quake in Caracas. A 1967 6.6 magnitude earthquake killed more than 200 people and devastated historic neighbourhoods. Those who remembered the older quake describe today's shaking as far stronger, citing shattered walls and a louder crash that rattled entire homes.
Rescue teams are racing through rubble to locate survivors and assess damage. Rescue footage shows teams combing through a broken building with debris falling around the 2020‑24 structure. The scope of the disaster is still unfolding, as authorities work to document the loss of life and assess how many structures can be salvaged.
For more on this story, follow updates from the BBC’s dedicated earthquake coverage, and keep an eye on the evolving situation as Caracas grapples with the aftermath.
