Venezuela earthquake death toll hits 6,125; official missing count stays at 157 since June

Death toll and the missing

On 24 June 2026, two earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck northern Venezuela less than a minute apart, with an epicentre roughly 200 kilometres from Caracas. The coastal state of La Guaira bore the brunt. Six weeks later, the confirmed death toll has reached 6,125, National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez announced on 4 August. The figure climbed by 579 from the 5,546 deaths reported on 24 July. The new weekly bulletin, redesigned for the "reconstruction phase," no longer includes tallies of injured or collapsed buildings, focusing instead on homes delivered and debris cleared.

The official missing persons count, however, remains frozen at 157, the number last published on 25 June. The human rights NGO Provea demanded an update on 3 August, pointing out that 39 days had passed without a revision. La Guaira governor José Alejandro Terán told Colombia's Caracol Radio that his state alone has 1,579 people unaccounted for, based on information supplied by families.

From the information that relatives give us directly, we have 1,579 missing persons.

Unofficial citizen initiatives report far higher numbers. The portal "Desaparecidos Terremoto Venezuela" lists more than 29,000 people whose whereabouts are unknown, while "Venezuela Te Busca" puts the figure at nearly 18,000. A diplomatic source and expert projections cited by AFP suggest the real number of missing may be closer to 10,000. Provea stresses that no public registry backs the citizen-led tallies.

Damage and debris

The World Bank estimates direct physical damage at $19.6 billion. Housing accounts for 47% of that total, or $9.3 billion, with infrastructure at $5.2 billion (27%) and non-residential buildings at $5 billion (26%). La Guaira and the Capital District together bear roughly half the economic impact.

More than 800 buildings were damaged or collapsed, including at least 190 that fell completely. The UNDP calculates the quakes generated 2.1 million tonnes of rubble. By 4 August, 346,000 tonnes had been cleared, about 16.5% of the total. Residents in some areas accuse authorities of rushing debris removal to hide construction flaws, according to opposition newspaper El Pitazo. Controlled demolitions of unstable structures began last week.

Housing crisis and new rental law

Authorities have evaluated 43,679 homes. Of the 41,624 that have received a classification, 6,433 carry a red high-risk label, 9,866 a yellow restricted label, and 25,325 were deemed habitable.

Roughly 24,000 displaced people are living in temporary camps in Caracas and La Guaira. To ease the housing shortage, parliament passed a rental law on 1 August that ends a decades-old restrictive regulation. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said the measure could unlock around 400,000 homes for the rental market.

We estimate that around 400,000 homes could benefit from this law, which, in the circumstances created by the earthquake, allows people to reach the rental market.

The government plans to deliver 4,000 new housing units by the end of the year; 287 have already been handed over.

International victims and health strain

Portugal's foreign ministry confirmed that 138 Portuguese nationals and luso-descendants died in the disaster, including 29 minors. Of those, 118 also held Venezuelan citizenship. The ministry said no Portuguese citizens remain missing.

Hospitals have treated 60,992 people for quake-related injuries. Thousands of patients with chronic illnesses still lack regular treatment, and health authorities have not ruled out the risk of epidemics, according to RTBF. Criticism of the government's response has also surfaced, with media reporting cases of families digging through rubble with bare hands due to a lack of heavy machinery in the early days.