At least 1,719 people have died and another 5,034 people were injured from a pair of powerful earthquakes that devastated Venezuela, officials said.
The two quakes -- a 7.2 magnitude one followed just seconds later by a 7.5 -- struck the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday evening, knocking down buildings in Caracas, the capital, and sending residents racing into the street.
Responders are still undertaking rescue operations, searching for people thought to be under the rubble.
'We are procuring 10,000 body bags,' UN envoy says
As the death toll rises, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Venezuela Gianluca Rampolla del Tindaro said, "We are procuring … 10,000 body bags."
"At least 2,500 structures are affected, most of which fully collapsed," he said.
A woman reacts at a shelter for the victims of a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Venezuela and other regions in the Caribbean, June 28, 2026 in Carabellada, La Guaira, Venezuela.
Jesus Vargas/Getty Images
A member of Gideon Rescue Company and a rescue dog take part in rescue efforts, after earthquakes hit the country, in Tanaguarena neighborhood, La Guaira, Venezuela, June 28, 2026.
Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters
Rampolla del Tindaro said the Venezuelan government is still leading search and rescue operations.
"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," he said. "Yesterday alone, seven persons were moved out of the rubble."
Jun 29, 2026, 11:28 AM EDT
3 Americans dead, 12 missing
Three Americans have died from the earthquakes and 12 Americans remain missing, the U.S. government has confirmed, according to a senior U.S. official.
People embrace, as rescue operations continue after earthquakes hit the country in La Guaira, Venezuela, June 27, 2026.
Maxwell Briceno/Reuters
More than 300 search and rescue personnel from the U.S. are now working on the ground in Venezuela, a senior administration official said.
The U.S. had committed more than $300 million to the earthquake response, including $200 million in funding for partner organizations and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, according to the State Department.
Jhonquer Cerpas, 13, is rescued by the Mexican brigade, in rescue efforts after earthquakes hit the country, in La Guaira, Venezuela, June 27, 2026.
Maxwell Briceno/Reuters
Jun 29, 2026, 9:45 AM EDT
Man rescued alive after 106 hours
Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez posted a video on social media showing a man rescued from a collapsed building after 106 hours trapped under the rubble.
Aaron Levi Cantillo was rescued alive after being trapped for 106 hours and a 43-hour rescue operation following an earthquake in Venezuela.
@delcyrodriguezv/X
Jun 29, 2026, 7:11 AM EDT
Survivors pulled from rubble days after Venezuela quakes, officials say
As the race to find survivors in Venezuela continues, Bolivian rescuers pulled two survivors out of the rubble of a collapsed building over the weekend.
The video was posted by the Bolivian authorities on Sunday but does not specify when it was filmed.
Volunteers and Ecuadorean firefighters of the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) search for bodies at the site of a collapsed building in Caraballeda, La Guaira State, Venezuela on June 28, 2026, following twin earthquakes.
Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images
Video shows rescuers pulling someone through a small opening and then rappelling slowly down the collapsed side of the building.
The officially reported death toll from the two powerful earthquakes that struck in Venezuela on Wednesday remained at about 1,400, with the last update on casualties being announced on Saturday.
A woman is seen after being pulled from under a collapsed building in a hard hit town in La Guaira, on Venezuela's coast, in an image shared by the Salvadoran president.
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele also shared video of Salvadoran rescue crews.
"After 86 hours trapped under the rubble, and following 11 hours of intense work, we have successfully rescued 60-year-old Belkys Josefina Barreto García alive," he said on social media.
The woman had been trapped under a building in a hard hit town in La Guaira on the coast. The woman remains in "delicate" condition and has been transferred to hospital in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
There were shouts of "bravo" and clapping from bystanders and rescuers as she was carried on a stretcher into an ambulance.
