LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans searched for survivors beneath collapsed buildings Thursday and rescue teams raced to the areas hardest hit by a pair of powerful earthquakes that rocked northern Venezuela, killing at least 164 people.

The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday evening were among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and could be felt throughout the region. Nearly 1,000 people were injured and thousands were reported missing across the country, with damage and casualties particularly heavy in the coastal region of La Guaira, which is north of Caracas, the capital.

Buildings were evacuated as far away as Brazil’s Amazon, about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from Caracas, where the country’s main airport was closed after sustaining damages.

Panicked residents of the capital poured into the streets, where many people walked among the debris searching for the missing. Television broadcasts showed rescue workers using power tools to get through piles of rubble where buildings once stood.

In La Guaira, Cristian Carreño stared stunned at his charred apartment building tilting precariously to one side.

“I lost everything. Everything,” he said. “There are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn’t get out. It’s incredibly devastating.”

Offers of help poured in from around the world, including from the United States, which seized Venezuela's then-president Nicolas Maduro at the beginning of the year in a surprise military operation.

The natural disaster poses a major challenge for acting President Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the capture of Maduro. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement she represents.

Rescue teams head to heavily damaged coastal region

Rodríguez, who gave the latest death toll early Thursday, said authorities were shifting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira.

Footage on state TV showed three children, covered in dust but alive, pulled from the rubble in La Guaira state, which Rodríguez described as a “disaster zone.”

“Dozens of buildings have collapsed there ... and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” Rodríguez said.

Video shared online appeared to show dozens of people, some lying on the ground and others on hospital beds, being treated outside a hospital in La Guaira. While Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.

Rodríguez appealed to businesses to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations, adding that search and rescue teams certified by the United Nations were on their way to help.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, hit west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas. It had a depth of 22 kilometers (about 14 miles). Just a minute later, USGS reported a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake, with a depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) and an epicenter 16 kilometers (10 miles) southwest of Moron.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello urged people to remain outside as aftershocks could cause further damage.

Venezuela residents reeling from two strong quakes

During the quakes, people ran from swaying buildings, and many were shocked when they turned back to see destroyed walls that left furniture visible from the street.

In La Guaira, a man wearing only shorts climbed down the face of an apartment building tilted at a dangerous angle as a crowd watched.

Dayana Delgado, mother of three children, said she was desperate because her 8-year-old was missing.

“I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said.

Delgado questioned where the heavy machinery that government officials had promised was, pointing out that neighbors were the ones digging through the rubble.

In downtown Caracas, hundreds of people spent the night huddled around parks, parking lots and other open spaces. Authorities warned against returning to homes with structural damage.

“We were afraid the buildings would collapse on us,” said María Cristina Díaz, a 41-year-old janitor. “My mother, my daughter and I were cold. We didn’t sleep a wink; but I didn’t want to spend the night alone at home after that terrible earthquake.”

“It was awful. We cried, we screamed. Thankfully, we’re alive,” she added.

Díaz and her family rushed to Plaza Candelaria in downtown Caracas because it’s one of the few open areas near her home.

Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone coverage, and the earthquakes damaged and closed Simón Bolívar International Airport, the country’s main airport, Rodríguez said.

In Caracas, subway services were suspended and natural gas shut off, she said. Classes will also be canceled for several days, and the Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters and donation centers.

On Thursday morning, scores of people in Venezuela and abroad struggled to contact family members. Families began posting missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones, while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched for those still unaccounted for.

The U.N. human rights mission in Venezuela called on the government to lift local restrictions on social media so people can get more timely access to potentially life-saving information. In August 2024, Maduro ordered X blocked in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information among those who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential elections.

Several governments offered assistance

Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for hospitals and homes damaged by the earthquakes, and had instructed the economy and finance ministers to oversee the effort.

Countries from across the world from Qatar to Mexico began to send aid to Venezuela. Rodríguez expressed thanks for the messages of support and offers for help.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had spoken to Rodríguez following the quake, said the United States is “immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela.”

“We will have a whole government response,” Rubio said Thursday in Bahrain, noting the were facing logistical obstacles with Caracas’ airport collapsed. “It will be big. It will be fast. It will be effective.”

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Garcia Cano reported from Bogota, Colombia. Associated Press writers Megan Janetsky and Anna-Catherine Brigida in Mexico City, Danica Coto and San Juan, Clara Preve in Buenos Aires; Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia; Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo; Cristina Fuentes in Madrid; and Maria Teresa Hernandez in Beijing contributed to this report.

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