Venezuela was rocked by back-to-back earthquakes Wednesday evening in a disaster that will test the nation’s emergency response and recovery capacity as it copes with economic and political crises, disaster relief and engineering experts said. The destruction was driven by a rare seismic “doublet,” or back-to-back quakes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS, which monitors seismic activity. The federal agency noted that the “high casualties and damage are probable, and that the disaster is likely widespread.” As of Friday, at least 920 people had been killed, with thousands more injured and missing, according to interim President Delcy Rodríguez. The USGS projected that the death toll could run into the thousands.
Once an oil-rich nation with investments in building standards and disaster preparedness after prior disasters, Venezuela has fallen into economic turmoil, testing its ability to respond to the latest earthquake, said Daniel Aldrich, a Northeastern professor, director of the university’s Resilience Studies Program and co-director at the Global Resilience Institute. “At one point, it had the financial capacity to enforce construction standards, inspect buildings and make sure builders weren’t cutting corners,” Aldrich said.
