Mother and children rescued alive after 11 days under Venezuela earthquake rubble
A mother and her children have been rescued alive after spending 11 days trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in Venezuela's La Guaira state, following the country's devastating twin earthquakes.
The rescue is one of the longest-known survival cases since the earthquakes struck on 24 June, as search-and-rescue teams continue working in some of the worst-hit areas.
Two powerful earthquakes hit Venezuela in quick succession just after 18:00 local time (23:00 BST) on 24 June 2026. A magnitude 7.2 earthquake was followed 39 seconds later by a stronger magnitude 7.5 quake.
The earthquakes struck near Yaracuy state and were felt across much of Venezuela and neighbouring countries, with tremors reported as far away as the Brazilian Amazon.
The disaster caused widespread destruction, with buildings collapsing in several cities, including the capital, Caracas, trapping residents beneath the rubble.
Venezuelan authorities launched large-scale search-and-rescue operations immediately after the earthquakes, deploying emergency teams across the affected regions as crews worked around the clock to locate survivors.
More than 20 aftershocks have been recorded since the initial earthquakes, while the magnitude 7.5 quake was the strongest recorded in Venezuela in more than 125 years.
As rescue efforts continue, families are still searching for missing relatives. Colombian-Venezuelan national Moises Leonel Perez travelled from Bogotá to Venezuela's Caribbean coast after losing contact with his mother following the June 24 earthquakes. Perez, who moved to Colombia in 2018, returned to Venezuela to help search for her after repeated attempts to reach her failed.
Twelve days after the disaster, Venezuelan authorities said the earthquakes had killed 3,535 people, injured 16,740 others and left more than 17,000 people homeless, with recovery and rescue operations continuing across the affected regions.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
