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The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes toppled dozens of buildings, killed at least 32 people, and injured at least 700 others, the authorities said. A frantic rescue effort was underway.

Here’s the latest.

Huge, twinned earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday, toppling many buildings and killing at least 32 people and injuring 700 others in a disaster that added to the country’s already severe political and economic turmoil.

One of the quakes was the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century, and the full scale of the damage was not immediately clear early Thursday morning. President Delcy Rodríguez announced the initial toll of deaths and injuries on television but noted that it did not include the worst-hit state of La Guaira, where dozens of buildings had collapsed.

Residents describe terror and confusion as quake struck

Residents in Venezuela’s capital and nearby cities described scenes of terror and confusion as buildings collapsed, windows rattled, and homes lost power when two major earthquakes struck the country on Wednesday evening.

“I’ve never felt something so strong,” María Barco, 24, said from the city of San Felipe, near the earthquake’s epicenter, describing a strong shake that seemed to last 60 to 90 seconds. Her daughter screamed, she said. The back part of her house fell in, she said, leaving the family unable to get back in, and they were without internet or electricity.

The earthquakes hit in the evening of a holiday celebrating an 1821 battle that eventually led to Venezuela’s independence from Spain. Schools were closed, and when the quakes struck, many Venezuelans were at home because they did not go to work on Wednesday.

Internet connectivity dropped significantly in Venezuela after the earthquakes, according to network data from the monitoring group NetBlocks. Connectivity appeared to drop from over 90 percent to around 65 percent, the data showed.

Venezuela’s neighbors offer rescue teams and humanitarian assistance.

The United States and several Latin American countries said they would send humanitarian aid and rescue personnel to Venezuela, after two major earthquakes struck west of Caracas on Wednesday night, killing at least 32 and injuring hundreds more.

“I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly. We will be there for our new and great friends,” President Trump wrote in a social media post on Wednesday night.

American Airlines, which operates two daily flights between Miami and Caracas, said that it has suspended its operations at Simón Bolívar International Airport. The Venezuelan authorities closed the airport, which serves the capital, after it suffered heavy damage during the earthquakes.

Venezuela’s health system has struggled with resource constraints for years, making rescue efforts more challenging, said Dan Hovey, vice president of emergency response at Direct Relief, a California-based humanitarian organization that provides aid to Venezuela. Road closures, power outages, and communication disruptions also create logistical hurdles for delivering aid, he said.

The government of Curaçao said people on the Caribbean island nation also felt tremors from the earthquakes in Venezuela. There were no immediate reports of any serious damage there. Curaçao lies around 40 miles off the Venezuelan coast and is about 110 miles north of the quake epicenters.

It’s early Thursday morning here in Caracas, and parts of the city —particularly in the west — have no power. Subway and train services here and in the nearby state of Miranda are also suspended. As I traveled through some of the capital’s western and central areas earlier, I saw neighborhoods with no lights on and streets flooded by burst water pipes.

Rodríguez said that hotels and shelters were available for those who lost their homes or whose homes were damaged by the earthquakes.

In her televised address, Delcy Rodríguez urged the public to report missing people or damage to their homes through a government platform that is typically used to track utility outages. Separately, Venezuelans have reported hundreds of missing people on a non-official website. Others are sharing details about the missing on social media groups.

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The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes toppled dozens of buildings

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