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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
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Thursday warned against any crossings of the Strait of Hormuz without authorisation, saying vessels not complying “will be dealt with”.
The future of the strait, a vital route for energy shipments that was blockaded by Iran during the war, is a key sticking point in negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
Tehran has said it plans to impose what it calls maritime service fees, as opposed to tolls, while the United States argues it is an international waterway and therefore should not be charged.
“The only authorised route for passage through the Strait of Hormuz is the route announced by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of Iran’s military.
Any crossing without authorisation is “unacceptable and extremely dangerous”, they warned in a statement.
They also denounced what they said was a new route through the waterway announced by “certain authorities”.
The statement did not elaborate but it appeared to be a response to an announcement overnight of a temporary corridor by Oman, which also borders the strait.
Omani authorities released a map of a route running close to the Omani coast that they said was coordinated with the International Maritime Organisation, a UN agency responsible for marine safety.
The only route currently authorised by Iran runs through a corridor that follows the Iranian coast.
Hormuz is a narrow stretch of water between Iran and the Gulf countries through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s crude oil and liquified natural gas normally transits.
At its narrowest it is only about 30 kilometres (18 miles) wide.
A memorandum of understanding signed last week by Tehran and Washington to end their war stipulated that commercial ships may transit the strait free of charge for the next 60 days.
With Iran and the US in negotiations, it is unclear what arrangements will be in place after that period.
Iran and Oman announced on Tuesday that they would study the “costs” to be charged for services related to administration of the strait.
But US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, visiting neighbouring Gulf countries this week, said Washington would not accept any tolls or fees.
AFP
Finally oil prices dropped to $72 per barrel on Thursday from about $120 per barrel, their lowest level since the US-Iran conflict began in February.
Brent crude futures for August delivery fell $1.06, or 1.44%, to $72.68 a barrel by 0639 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate lost 76 cents, or 1.08%, to $69.58 a barrel.
According to Oilprice.com, crude oil had fallen from $76.75 per barrel on Tuesday to $73.50 on Wednesday, after surging during the conflict as tensions threatened shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Rising Middle Eastern supply, together with Iran set to boost sales after a reprieve from U.S. sanctions, drove down prices of physical crude oil cargoes around the world.
Traders grew optimistic that the US-Iran agreement would help keep the strategic waterway open, alongside reports of a slight increase in shipping traffic.
An initial accord last week to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which began on February 28, has allowed the resumption of traffic through the strait.
The accord set up 60 days of negotiations to tackle tougher issues, such as Iran’s nuclear programme. Wright said oil would continue to flow through the strait even if the deal did not hold, and that Iran would not be able to close it again.
Oman opened temporary routes on Wednesday to ease tanker departures from the strait, with the International Maritime Organization and Omani authorities coordinating movements.
According to CNN, traders are still monitoring whether traffic continues to flow smoothly through the strait and whether tensions remain contained across the Middle East.
On Tuesday, President of the United States, Donald Trump, said a record 19 million barrels of oil flowed out of the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. According to Trump, oil prices are tumbling as a result of the oil flow through Hormuz.
“19 million barrels of oil flowed out of the Hormuz Strait yesterday, an all-time record. Oil prices are tumbling down, and the world is a much safer place,” Trump said in a post on his social media handles.
Ten people have been rescued with varying degrees of injuries following the collapse of a building in the Alakija area of the Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos State.
The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service said the building, which collapsed on Thursday, is a residential structure located at Old Ojo Road, by Alakija Bus Stop, off Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Satellite Town, Lagos.
“The incident involves the collapse of a storey building, an existing residential structure occupied by multiple residents at the time of the incident,” the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service Controller General, Margaret Adeseye, said in a statement on Thursday.
“As of the time of this report, 10 persons have been rescued alive with varying degrees of injuries and have been handed over to medical personnel for necessary treatment.”
According to her, the service received a distress call at 11:37 am regarding a building collapse incident, and immediately, emergency responders from the Ijegun-Egba Fire Station were mobilised and arrived at the scene at 11:49 am.
Middle East: Iran warns against Hormuz passage without authorisation
Finally, oil prices crash to $72 pre-war level
10 survived as building collapses in Lagos
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