13 mins read

AP investigation: Warnings ignored as Venezuela coastal towers faced quake forces they couldn’t take

CARABALLEDA, Venezuela | Scientists had warned the government not to build along Venezuela’s coastal strip of La Guaira. The area’s seaside Caribbean communities, not far from Caracas, were near a major fault line and a mountain range that had unleashed repeated, destructive natural disasters. The soil was poor, a type of silt that would only […]

7 mins read

Back-to-back powerful earthquakes hit Venezuela, causing widespread damage

CARACAS, Venezuela | Powerful back-to-back earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday evening, causing widespread damage, collapsing buildings and sending panicked residents into the streets. The 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes roiled the region, with buildings evacuated in cities as far away as Brazil’s Amazon, about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from Caracas. In a brief address to […]