CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) \u2014 Back-to-back powerful earthquakes slammed Venezuela on Wednesday evening, collapsing buildings in the capital of Caracas and leaving residents shaken.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Geological Survey said the first earthquake had a magnitude of 7.1 and its epicenter was west of the community of Mor\u00f3n, located along the country\u2019s Caribbean coast, about 168 kilometers (104 miles) west of Caracas. The quake had a depth of 22 kilometers.<\/p>\n
The USGS reported an even larger 7.5-magnitude earthquake just a minute later. The second quake had a depth of 10 kilometers and its epicenter was 16 kilometers (10 miles) southwest of Mor\u00f3n.<\/p>\n
The quakes are among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century.<\/p>\n
The earthquakes struck shortly after 6 p.m. local time. People evacuated swaying buildings in Caracas and remained outside, many visibly shocked as they saw entire walls that had collapsed, making furniture visible from the street. Dust columns could also be seen in two neighborhoods of the capital, where restaurants and other businesses are typically busy. People remained on the streets after sunset. Some sat on the ground hugging their pets as dust gathered around them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt started off gently and then gradually grew, and in the end, we all had to leave our houses, go outside and gather together,\u201d Caracas resident Hector Ricci said.<\/p>\n
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said the quake could be felt in several states. The Altamira neighborhood in Caracas had \u201calarming situations\u201d with collapsed homes and buildings, he said, suggesting people were injured in the earthquake and asking motorists to give way to ambulances and other emergency vehicles.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand that some people may be desperate, but we are acting according to protocols to activate aid and rescue efforts to help those who need it most,\u201d Cabello said on state television. \u201cBe very careful with children and the elderly; call each other and check that no one has been harmed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also urged people to remain outside as aftershocks could further damage some structures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe building really shook from side to side. Unreal. The force was incredibly strong,\u201d Caracas resident Roberto Gamas said. \u201cWe were walking and it was tossing us around. Everything in the apartment fell. Well, thank God we were able to get out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami alert for Virgin Islands. Authorities in the Dominican Republic also issued one for the island. Another alert for Puerto Rico was quickly lifted.<\/p>\n
Strong earthquakes are unusual in Venezuela.<\/p>\n
While the country sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America. Along the Pacific coast \u2014 in Mexico and Chile, for example \u2014 earthquakes are frequent; the two countries sit along the seismically active tectonic belt known as the \u201cPacific Ring of Fire,\u201d responsible for 90% of earthquakes, according to the USGS.<\/p>\n
Garcia Cano reported from Bogota, Colombia. Anna-Catherine Brigada contributed from Mexico City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) \u2014 Back-to-back powerful earthquakes slammed Venezuela on Wednesday evening, collapsing buildings in the capital of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93029,124529,23681,59373,59371,87361,61262,124528,82,84,83,23159,124527],"class_list":["post-349289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-caracas","tag-hector-ricci","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-32501-ap-online-latin-america-and-caribbean-news","tag-product-46986-ap-online-top-stories","tag-roberto-gamas","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-venezuela","tag-venezuela-earthquake-caracas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}