Venezuelans are accusing the government of Nicolás Maduro of gross negligence following a series of failures in the emergency response to a 6.7 magnitude earthquake that struck the country’s central region on Tuesday. Witnesses describe chaos and a lack of coordination as rescue teams struggled to reach collapsed buildings in the states of Miranda and Carabobo. In the working-class neighbourhood of Petare, east of Caracas, residents told reporters that no official aid arrived for more than six hours after the quake.
Criticism has focused on the absence of a functioning early warning system and the dilapidated state of the country’s emergency services, which have been depleted by years of economic crisis and political infighting. Local community leaders have begun organising search and rescue efforts themselves, using their own tools and vehicles. The government has yet to release an official death toll, but independent estimates suggest at least 47 people have died, with hundreds more injured or missing.
President Maduro appeared on state television late Tuesday, blaming the earthquake on a new type of fracking operation in neighbouring Colombia. He offered no details on the government’s response but promised a full investigation into the structural integrity of public buildings. International observers have noted that the disaster response exposed the hollowing out of Venezuela’s state capacity, a legacy of years of underinvestment and corruption. The United Nations has offered to send a team of disaster management experts, but Maduro’s administration has not yet responded. For now, Venezuelans are left to dig through the rubble themselves, their patience with the government wearing thin.
