Venezuela’s earthquake has reshaped and lifted Trinidad’s coastline

At approximately 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, two massive earthquakes struck Venezuela’s northern Caribbean coast in rapid succession — a magnitude 7.2 foreshock near Morón followed just 39 seconds later by a magnitude 7.5 mainshock near Yumare, both roughly 160 kilometres west of Caracas. The two epicentres sat approximately five kilometres apart. The tremors, among the strongest to hit Venezuela in over a century, were felt as far as Brazil’s Amazon region, some 1,700 kilometres away, and briefly triggered tsunami advisories for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

La Guaira, the densely populated coastal state just north of Caracas, bore the brunt of the destruction. Buildings collapsed in Caracas’s Altamira and Palos Grandes neighbourhoods, Simón Bolívar International Airport was closed due to damage, and metro and rail services were suspended. At least 20 aftershocks rattled the capital through the night — eventually exceeding 400 in total. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez confirmed at least 1,700 deaths and thousands of injuries, with tens of thousands unaccounted for.

Just 11 kilometres across the water in Trinidad, the quakes reshaped the island’s south-western Galfa coastline overnight. Residents in Cedros discovered the following morning that sections of beach and seabed had been violently thrust upward by as much as 20 feet.

The sudden uplift — described by geologist Xavier Moonan as a “reactivated slump” driven by hillside collapse forcing the seabed upward — left hundreds of dead fish, crabs, clams and stingrays trapped in the rubble, with oil and gas visibly seeping from newly exposed rock.

• Magnitude 7.2 foreshock struck near Morón at ~6:00 p.m. on June 24, 2026 • Magnitude 7.5 mainshock followed 39 seconds later near Yumare • Both epicentres were approximately 160 km west of Caracas and 5 km apart • At least 1,400 confirmed dead in Venezuela; tens of thousands unaccounted for • More than 400 aftershocks recorded following the twin quakes • Simón Bolívar International Airport closed due to damage • Trinidad’s Galfa coastline uplifted by as much as 20 feet overnight • Geologist Xavier Moonan identified a ‘reactivated slump’ mechanism as the cause of the coastal uplift • Hundreds of marine animals — fish, crabs, clams, stingrays — were trapped and killed by the sudden uplift • Oil and gas seepage observed from newly exposed rock at Galfa Point • Trinidad and Venezuela are separated by just 11 kilometres at their closest points