About 50,000 People Are Estimated Missing After Powerful Earthquake in Venezuela... Tension Rises Over the Possibility of Hundreds of Aftershocks

[Financial News] Sky News reported on the 26th that about 50,000 people are believed to be missing after the powerful earthquake that hit Venezuela on the 24th local time.
Warnings are also growing that several strong aftershocks could follow.
Citing a missing-person tracking website, the broadcaster said the number of missing people is continuing to rise rapidly, while families upload photos to the site and anxiously wait for news.
At least 235 people have died so far after the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes struck just minutes apart.
The quake is said to be the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than 100 years, and residents in Brazil also evacuated as the tremors were felt there.
Experts explain that it is rare for earthquakes of similar magnitude to occur in close proximity within such a short time.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), there have been 11 earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 or higher worldwide since 2024.
However, few have caused damage on the scale of the Venezuela quake. In the Philippines, where a magnitude 7.8 quake struck earlier this month, 19 people were killed.
No casualties were reported when an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula in late June last year.
Stephen Hicks, a geologist at University College London, predicted that hundreds of strong aftershocks could hit Venezuela over the next few months.
Hicks said the damage was severe because Venezuela is located in mountainous terrain and the capital, Caracas, sits in a deep valley.


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