Yesterday, two major earthquakes hit Venezuela with an epicenter just west of Caracas. The devastation is widespread and the death toll could reach at least 100,000. One quake measured 7.2 and the other 7.5 on the Richter scale, making them the strongest quakes to hit the area in more than a century. Many buildings have collapsed and northern Venezuela is in ruins.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio updated the media on U.S. efforts to help the South American nation.
BREAKING: Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives an update on America’s recovery efforts to help the Venezuelan people after the country was hit by a pair of historic and deadly earthquakes.
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 25, 2026
“We're already deploying search and rescue teams from Fairfax County, Virginia, and Los… pic.twitter.com/h8SLnQea7F
"We are already deploying search and rescue teams from Fairfax County, Virginia, and Los Angeles. There'll be some other as well," Rubio said. "That's their most immediate need right now, is search and rescue efforts. They have a bunch of collapsed buildings, so they'll need a lot of help in terms of digging through that."
"The airport there is badly damaged, so we'll have to rely on the Department of War to deploy assets there. And then we're also helping them with some overhead imagery, especially in coastal areas where they don't have full visibility over what the damage has been," Rubio continued. "Those are the acute, short-term needs over the next 48 to 72 hours because in search and rescue you're trying to get to people while you can still save their lives. They're buried under rubble."
"And other countries are responding as well. The Qataris have already offered assistance. We spoke to them earlier today as well. El Salvador has stepped up, and multiple countries around the region including Chile and others have reached out to us to communicate and get that happening," Rubio said.
"As we move forward with that response, with sort of the short-term phase of response and recovery, the second phase will be identifying the more longer-term and acute needs, what are the things over the long-term that they're going to need," Rubio added. "We'll have a better assessment of that in the next 48 hours when we're on the ground."
Thousands of Venezuelans are reportedly sleeping outside, afraid to go back into structures for fear of collapse.
They also need to set up tents for people to sleep in, makeshift hospitals, and cafeteria facilities to feed people, because a lot of buildings, even if still standing, are very unsafe. https://t.co/4vHHV0LGDZ
— Vitamvivere (@Vitamvivere) June 25, 2026
The rest of the world needs to step up.
@mattvanswol i think of you guys and how much different your lives wouldve been if the Trump admin had been in power when Helene hit. Biden sucked big time. He abandoned NC, Palestine OH and Lahaina
— DaniCat (@DaniCat9177) June 25, 2026
It would have been different, for sure.
Capitalism to the rescue. https://t.co/PZD6rtNo7b
— TakingHayekSeriously (@FriedrichHayek) June 25, 2026
Also a fair point.
A state of emergency has been declared in Venezuela. We'll have more information on casualties in the coming 48 hours.