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SAD! 164 killed, 1,000 Injured In Venezuela
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A twin earthquake that was Venezuela’s largest in over a century has killed at least 164 people and destroyed multiple buildings near the capital, where residents searched Thursday for missing relatives.
Venezuela’s strongest earthquake since 1900 sent rescuers and locals clambering in the dark over flattened apartments, hunting for survivors and extracting people from under the ruins.
France, Spain and the US offered to urgently send rescuers after the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said struck areas west of the capital on Wednesday evening.
The toll has climbed quickly, with interim president Delcy Rodriguez reporting at least 164 dead and over 970 hurt and noting the state of La Guaira north of Caracas was hit hard.
“We have nothing, right now we have nothing, not even the strength or the courage to go in there, just imagine,” Larry Rojas, 49, told AFP, standing in front of a collapsed building where his family was trapped in the La Guaira city of Catia La Mar.
The coastal city was without electricity, and many residents spent the night in the streets or searching for their relatives, according to AFP reporters.
The 7.5-magnitude earthquake was Venezuela’s most powerful since October 29, 1900, when a 7.7-magnitude tremor struck offshore.
After Wednesday’s shock, some residential buildings showed large cracks and fallen walls, with dozens of others destroyed, according to AFP reporters.
“There are people alive in there and no-one is coming to save them,” said a woman waiting for news of her daughter, who was buried in a ruined 12-story building.
France said it would send 85 rescuers and Spain pledged 54 army searchers as nations including China, India, Brazil and the United States also offered help.
Washington was “immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday.
Earthquake hits Iranian capital Tehran
The first quake, with an epicenter 21 kilometers (13 miles) west of the coastal town of Moron, occurred at 2204 GMT, USGS said. Within a minute, a 7.5-magnitude quake struck about 45 kilometers away.
“This earthquake was the second event in a doublet. This magnitude 7.5 mainshock was preceded by 39 seconds by a 7.2 foreshock,” USGS said.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello asked people to leave their homes, adding that gas supplies had been cut to several buildings as a precaution.
“We have some damaged structures and we don’t want any kind of accident involving gas to occur,” he said.
The Maiquetia International Airport, located near Caracas, was closed due to “serious damage” to its infrastructure, Rodriguez said, with social media posts showing its severely damaged facilities.
The quakes triggered panic in the capital and drove people into the streets, AFP journalists saw.
“The stairs came away, the whole wall cracked. Things fell from the ceiling. It was horrible,” said 54-year-old bank employee Odalis Escalona.
An AFP journalist saw a 22-story building completely destroyed in the capital’s Altamira neighborhood, where people cried out relatives’ names as volunteers climbed over the rubble.
“We need flashlights,” one of them said.
The tremors struck at a depth of 22 kilometers and 10 kilometers, respectively.
They prompted screams of panic at a shopping center in Caracas, an AFP journalist observed.
“It was unbelievable, I don’t even know how long it lasted,” said shopkeeper Heidi Romero, who was on the top floor when the quake struck.
“We went out through the emergency stairs; that’s how they got us out,” the 42-year-old told AFP.
Many more in the capital exited buildings and waited outside before returning to their offices and homes.
Carmen Guedez, 69, was in the same room as her bedridden sister when she felt the jolt.
“It kept getting stronger,” said the administrator, who lives in a hilly middle-class neighborhood above the capital. “I started to see the windows begin to move and then everything shook.”
She described how she “huddled together” with her sister and a neighbor, adding that “we couldn’t get out. The neighbors are still out on the street.”
The states of Trujillo, Carabobo, Miranda and La Guaira were the hardest hit, according to Cabello.
The quake was felt as far away as the Colombian capital of Bogota, where alarms sounded and some residents evacuated buildings as a precaution.
Freddy Tovar, coordinator of Colombia’s National Seismological Network, said they had received more than 200 reports of tremors nationwide.
“The conditions of this seismic event mean that some aftershocks may occur, which could also be widely felt across Colombian territory,” he said in a video posted on X.
The strongest tremors in earthquake-prone Venezuela’s recent history occurred in the northeast in 1997, killing 73 people, and in Caracas in 1967, when 236 people died.
AFP
The twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela last month killed over 5,000 people, National Assembly chief Jorge Rodriguez posted on Telegram Friday.
The 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes struck within a minute of each other on 24 June, decimating the coastal state of La Guaira located north of Caracas.
The disasters killed 5,069 people, Rodriguez said, with most casualties occurring in the coastal region.
The number of people injured remains unchanged at 16,740, with the parliamentary leader earlier stating that most had already been discharged from hospital.
Some 20,000 people made homeless by the quakes are living in overcrowded camps, many of which lack water supplies and proper sanitation systems.
The federal high court in Kano has barred the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) from operating on state and local government roads.
The court also declared the corps’ operations on township roads within Kano metropolis unlawful, holding that they violated the fundamental rights of citizens.
In a judgment delivered on Thursday, M.S. Shuaibu, the presiding judge, ruled in favour of Abba Hikima, a Kano-based lawyer who sued the FRSC over its activities in July 2025.
According tọ media reports,the judge held that FRSC officers acted outside their statutory powers by stopping, questioning and delaying motorists on township roads.
He added that the actions breached the constitutional rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement guaranteed under sections 35 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution.
The judge granted all the reliefs sought by Hikima, including a perpetual injunction restraining FRSC personnel from stopping or harassing motorists on Kano state roads without lawful authority.
He also ordered the corps to publish a public apology in a national newspaper and awarded the applicant N800,000 in damages and costs.
The suit followed an incident in July 2025 when FRSC operatives mounted checkpoints on township roads in Kano and stopped motorists, including Hikima, demanding driver’s licences and questioning them despite the absence of any primary traffic offence.
Hikima subsequently approached the federal high court, noting that the corps had unlawfully violated his fundamental rights.
He said that the FRSC’s statutory mandate covers only federal highways and does not extend to state or local government roads.
The Isoun family announced the death of former minister Turner Isoun, who passed away in Abuja on Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Isoun served as Minister of Science and Technology under ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and championed Nigeria’s space and ICT revolution.
According to Premium Times, the Isoun spokesperson, Diseye Timinipre Isoun, confirmed the passing of the family patriarch in a statement, noting that the elder statesman was based in Odi, Bayelsa State.
In his reaction, Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State described the late Professor as “an academic colossus whose contributions to scholarship and national development are outstanding and immeasurable.”
He stated that Prof. Isoun’s demise was a significant loss not only to the Ijaw nation but also to Nigeria as a whole, The Nation reported.
Isoun’s ‘legacy’ in science and ICT
A Professor of Veterinary Medicine by training, Isoun made his most enduring mark during his tenure as Minister of Science and Technology in the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He was widely credited with driving Nigeria’s early push into information technology and space exploration.
Among his most consequential initiatives was the establishment of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the creation of Galaxy Backbone Plc, a government ICT firm set up to harmonise national communication networks and build a reliable broadband infrastructure across the country.
Under his watch, Nigeria also achieved landmark milestones in space technology, including the launch of NigeriaSat-1 and Nigcomsat 1R, two satellites that marked a defining chapter in the country’s scientific history.
Before his ministerial career, Isoun had already distinguished himself in academia.
He served as the founding Vice Chancellor of the University of Science and Technology in Port Harcourt in the old Rivers State, now known as Rivers State University, laying what Governor Diri described as the solid foundations of the country’s first technology-focused university.
Beyond his academic and governmental roles, Isoun remained deeply connected to his Ijaw heritage.
He served as chairman of the Ijaw National Congress, Central Zone, and played a notable part in the political process that led to the creation of Bayelsa State from the old Rivers State in 1996.
“The Odi-born scientist would be greatly missed for his candour, wise counsel and commitment to Ijaw socio-cultural values,” Governor Diri said, while extending condolences from the Bayelsa State Government to the Isoun family and community.
He urged them to take comfort in the late elder statesman’s lasting contributions to national life.
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