Ukraine launches heavy drone attack on Russia, annexed Crimea declares 'emergency'

 Extract from ABC News

• Topic:Unrest, Conflict and War

8 hours ago

The drone attack comes after Volodymr Zelenskyy hinted at a 40-day blitz on Russia. (Reuters: Valentyn Ogirenko)

In short:

Ukraine has launched one of its largest ever drone attacks on Russia since the Kremlin's full-scale invasion more than four years ago.

Kyiv's long-range drones have been battering oil production and energy facilities behind the front line and deep inside Russia.

Authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea on Friday declared an "emergency situation" in a bid to ease the fallout from increasing Ukrainian aerial attacks on the peninsula.

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Ukraine has launched a major night-time attack on a dozen Russian regions, Russian-held Crimea and the surrounding seas, Moscow's Defense Ministry says.

Russian air defences intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones, Russia's Defense Ministry said on Friday, local time.

The bombardment appeared to be one of Kyiv's biggest drone assaults since the Kremlin's full-scale invasion more than four years ago.

The previous biggest Ukrainian attack over the past year, as Ukraine has accelerated its drone development, involved 556 drones on May 17.

How Ukraine is breaking through defences to bring war home to Moscow

Ukraine's growing arsenal of locally-produced long-range drones are getting increasingly sophisticated, allowing Kyiv to increasingly strike targets across Moscow.  

In an effort to turn the tables on Russia's grinding war of attrition, Ukrainian long-range drones have been battering oil production and energy facilities behind the front line and deep inside Russia.

The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies and military deliveries, stalling Moscow's efforts on the battlefield, Western officials and analysts say, and has heaped pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian chemical plant reportedly hit

Initial damage reports from Russia after the overnight attack provided scant information. Russia's Defense Ministry usually does not say what was targeted in Ukraine's drone attacks, nor does it detail any damage.

Russian independent online outlet Astra reported that a chemical plant and a hydro-electric plant in Novomoskovsk were attacked and caught fire. The Associated Press could not independently verify the report, and there was no official confirmation.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that 47 Ukrainian drones were downed as they flew toward the Russian capital. He did not report any casualties or damage.

Ukraine's Security Service said it used drones to strike Russian navy ships and air defence radars in Kerch, an important port city in Crimea.

The targets were two reconnaissance and mine-laying ships, the Volga and the Vyatka, and the cargo-passenger ferry Petropavlovsk, the agency said, claiming that the strikes started a large fire. The claim could not be independently verified.

Russia-annexed Crimea declares 'emergency'

Authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea on Friday declared an "emergency situation" in a bid to ease the fallout from increasing Ukrainian aerial attacks on the peninsula.

The announcement comes amid fuel shortages and power cuts triggered by the Ukrainian attacks on logistics chains and oil facilities across Crimea, the rest of Russian-occupied Ukraine and southern Russia.

A satellite image shows the Sevastopol power substation after local officials said Ukrainian drones knocked out power in the biggest city in Russian-held Crimea on Wednesday. (Reuters: Vantor/Handout)

"A decision has been made … to sign decrees declaring a regional-level emergency situation in the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol," the Moscow-installed governor Sergey Aksyonov said in a post on Telegram.

The emergency situation would allow for a "rapid resolution of tasks related to ensuring the stable operation of all sectors", Mr Aksyonov said in the post.

Despite the ongoing war that has killed tens of thousands and ravaged swaths of Ukraine, Crimea has been a popular holiday destination for Russians.

Speaking to AFP by phone, a Moscow resident holidaying in Feodosia on Crimea's south-eastern coast said earlier this week that "everyone is afraid: locals and visitors alike".

"The sky was like Star Wars,"

she said.

Russia seized and annexed Crimea in 2014, though the vast majority of countries — including many of Moscow's allies — do not recognise the move.

The Black Sea territory holds special importance to Mr Putin, who hailed the annexation as a historic victory and has poured resources into the peninsula since 2014.

Ukraine says Crimea is an inalienable part of its territory and will never formally cede it.

Zelenskyy hints at a 40-day blitz of Russia

The major attack came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that he had ordered "a 40-day influence operation," believed to mean an escalation of attacks, aimed at "compelling (Russia) to end the war" after US peace efforts over the past year yielded no breakthrough.

Ukraine has racked up a list of successful strikes, including hitting targets in Moscow and St Petersburg.

Mr Zelenskyy said he got further promises of foreign support when he attended a recent summit of G7 leaders, including from US President Donald Trump, and that the promised aid will help Ukraine step up its effort to force Mr Putin to the negotiating table.

A NATO summit next month could be another key moment in beefing up Ukraine's military.

Ukraine says three civilians killed and 20 wounded in Russian attacks

Two people were killed and seven others injured in Russian attacks on the north-eastern Kharkiv region over the previous 24 hours, regional head Oleh Syniehubov said on Friday.

Russian forces struck the city of Kharkiv and 16 other settlements across the region using guided aerial bombs and drones of various types, Mr Syniehubov said.

On Friday morning, another Russian drone attack on downtown Izium, a city in the Kharkiv region, killed a woman and wounded three other people, emergency services said.

Rescue workers put out a fire at a building destroyed after a Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia on Friday. (AP: Evgeniy Maloletka)

Other wounded people and damage were logged in attacks in the capital, Kyiv, the southern Odesa and Zaporizhzhia regions, and Sumy in the north-east, with some of the Russian assaults using powerful glide bombs.

Ukraine's defences overnight stopped 174 of 189 Russian drones, however four of seven Iskander-M ballistic missiles got through air defences and struck various locations, the Ukrainian air force said.

No Russian military build-up seen on border with Belarus, Ukraine says

Russia is expanding several of its military sites deep inside Belarus, but there is no build-up of forces near the Ukrainian border, a State Border Guard Service spokesman said on Friday.

Russia launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine from Belarus, which borders both countries, and Kyiv has kept a close watch on developments there during the war.

Ukrainian intelligence units have detected no grouping or reinforcement of Russian units, equipment or personnel close to the border, spokesman Andrii Demchenko said in remarks to Ukrainian television.

However, Russia has a growing number of training grounds, bases and other sites deeper inside the country, according to intelligence units.

AP/AFP

In Venezuela, the earthquake started with a 'soft shake' and then the lights went out.

Extract from ABC News

By Lucia Stein, with Elizabeth Ostos and Lenner Castellanos in Caracas

• Topic:Earthquakes

3 hours ago

People gathering on the streets of Caracas after the earthquake. (Reuters: Gaby Oraa)

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As a rare one-two punch of earthquakes hit Venezuela this week, residents in the capital city of Caracas watched in horror as buildings shook and were sent "pancaking" before their eyes.

An initial 7.2-magnitude quake struck near the town of San Felipe on Wednesday just after 6pm, local time, and was followed a mere 39 seconds later by another, much stronger, 7.5-magnitude quake.

Roberto Quintero, a 17-year-old student in Caracas, had just walked into his mother's apartment block when one of the most powerful tectonic events to strike the country in the past century occurred.

The "doublet" triggered the collapse of a complex across the street, one of several buildings to give way in the capital as residents ducked for cover.

A ceiling collapses at a Venezuela airport as the earthquake strikes.

"[My mum] saw… [through] our window [which was] facing the other building that [it] was collapsing," he told the ABC.

He said she had been so frightened by what she had seen that she suffered a panic attack and was unable to leave her complex.

"Out of fear, she stayed locked inside," Mr Quintero said.

It was only after some neighbours began fleeing that his mother was able to make her way out of the building and to a nearby car park, where the pair decided to shelter.

Mr Quintero is still waiting for news on whether it is safe to return to his mother's complex and if anyone was hurt in the building collapse across the street.

Roberto Quintero says his mother watched a building collapse from her apartment complex. (ABC News)

"We're waiting to see what Civil Protection says to see if we can enter the building," he said.

Many other locals are in similar situations, with authorities reporting entire buildings crumbling during and after the quakes.

Almost two days after the quakes, the Venezuelan government said it feared hundreds of people remained trapped under rubble. 

The death toll had risen to 920, national assembly president Jorge Rodríguez said, and more than 50,000 people had been listed online as missing.

Extensive search and rescue efforts are continuing, but predictive modelling from the United States Geological Survey indicates the death toll may dramatically rise in the coming days.

A collapsed building in La Guaira, a coastal city about 30 kilometres north of Caracas. (Reuters: Maxwell Briceno)

Videos shared online offer some early insights into why the earthquakes were so deadly, with CNN analysis finding that some residential towers failed in a "pancake mode" of structural collapse.

These types of collapses can be extremely dangerous, as they were in Türkiye in 2023 and in California in 1989.

And with the clock ticking in the search for survivors, residents fear an already fraught effort to clear the rubble will be further complicated by a lack of much-needed machinery.

Venezuela's lack of 'earthquake preparedness culture'

Venezuela sits on one of the most active tectonic boundaries in South America, where the Caribbean Plate slides up against the South American Plate.

It has a history of sudden movements, with the biggest in recent memory occurring along the Bocono fault system in 1812. Approximately 30,000 people were killed in the disaster.

When the first earthquakes struck on Wednesday, it triggered another along the same fault, in a rare event called a "doublet".

The result was that "twice as much energy" was released, said Adam Pascale, the chief scientist at the Seismology Research Centre in Australia.

To give an Australian comparison, the Venezuela earthquakes would have been at least 20 to 30 times bigger and up to 250 times more powerful than the magnitude-5.9 earthquake that struck near Mansfield in Victoria five years ago.

"If you imagine the shaking that we experienced in Melbourne … going on for a minute or longer and being much stronger, it sort of starts to give you an idea of how terrifying it must have been for the people in Venezuela," Mr Pascale said.

Unlike other countries, including the United States, Mexico and Japan, Venezuela does not have an early earthquake warning system of sensors to detect the first waves of an earthquake.

That meant when the tremors first hit, many people were caught by surprise and did not have an explanation for what was happening.

One resident in Caracas told the ABC they only realised they were in danger when the lights went out.

"We don't have that earthquake preparedness culture," 31-year-old Giordy Ardila said.

"While [our electronic] devices were making noise, the power went out, and it started to shake softly."

Some residents have reported their phones and laptops blaring with Google's Android Earthquake Alerts system shortly before and after the quakes struck.

The system relies on crowdsourced data from sensors in individual mobile phones to detect seismic events and issue warnings to other users in the area.

"Suddenly, the magnitude of the earthquake began to increase. I told my girlfriend to leave the apartment and go to the parking lot," Mr Ardila recalled.

Giordy Ardila has supplied tools and equipment to the rubble clearing efforts. (ABC News)

Those who could evacuated swaying buildings in Caracas and were forced to stay outside until authorities could give the all-clear.

A CNN report analysed dozens of videos from the quake and found that some structures appeared to have suffered a "pancake collapse", a phenomenon which occurs when a building collapses in on itself from the top down.

Emergency services worked through the night after the earthquakes, which struck shortly after 6pm, local time. (Reuters: Gaby Oraa)

These collapses "tend to 'stack' floors on themselves, bringing all their weight down nearly square on the floor below," Gregg Favre, a former commanding officer with the St Louis Fire Department and experienced special rescue team member, told CNN in 2021.

"This continues down, accumulating more weight and stress as the structure falls," he said.

What emerges is something resembling a stack of pancakes.

Scientists noted in the aftermath of Türkiye's 2023 earthquake that many of the destroyed buildings there appeared to have been built from concrete without adequate seismic reinforcement, leading to "pancake collapse".

Investigations into the causes of Venezuela's many building collapses, and the extent of the damage are still ongoing, but some experts have noted that many of the country's buildings may not have been built to withstand such powerful earthquakes.

Informal housing and poorly constructed structures often standing on insecure ground are common in South America, putting the region at greater risk from natural disasters.

Locals using bare hands, borrowing tools to clear rubble

In the days since the quake, rescuers have focused on clearing rubble and debris, hoping to find survivors in the small pockets of destroyed buildings.

They have been joined by families with missing loved ones, who have flocked to the areas hardest hit in search of any updates about their condition.

A car smashed by a collapsed building after the earthquakes in Caracas. (AP: Adrian Naranjo)

Nubia Gómez, a 60-year-old mother from Maracaibo, the second-largest city in Venezuela, drove nine hours to the capital to help search for her daughter after failing to reach her.

"I texted my daughter to ask if she had felt the earthquake and if she was OK," she told the ABC.

"And she never answered me on her cell phone. Then I saw a video on Instagram of the collapsed building."

Ms Gómez said she did not feel the tremors at home when the quakes first struck, only learning of what had happened from friends.

Nubia Gómez is praying for her daughter who she fears is trapped in rubble. (ABC News)

She thought immediately of her daughter, who lived in Caracas, and got in her car to make the journey to the capital to help find her.

Ms Gómez is praying desperately for any news of her loved one, fearing she may still be trapped under rubble and unable to call for help.

Rescue teams are working hard to clear piles of concrete slabs from areas that were once high-rise apartment buildings.

However, locals have reported a shortage of available machinery, leading some to use their bare hands to dig through the rubble.

Mr Ardila owns a store that sells tools and hardware in Caracas, and said he and a few others have offered what they can to help with the effort.

"I brought a cordless rotary hammer because I thought they were going to have electrical problems," he said of the clearing efforts.

"[I also brought] a grinder and a sledgehammer."

He said another young man brought a cordless hacksaw.

"We all have to help each other," he said.

"We have to get out of this situation together; we have to move this country forward, in good times and bad."

Rescue workers and desperate residents are racing against the clock to clear the rubble and debris left by the quakes in an effort to reach missing loved ones. (Reuters: Maxwell Briceno)

How on earth has the global economy survived this ongoing war?

Extract from ABC News

Analysis

By Laura Tingle

• Topic:Business, Economics and Finance

3 hours ago

The UN this week paused its operation to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz after a vessel reported an attack.  (Reuters)

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An unfortunate side effect of the incompetent and erratic negotiating tactics of the Trump administration — not to mention the regular apparent gaming of financial markets — is that some of the underlying stories in the global economy can get overlooked. 

People are kept perpetually on their toes about whether a deal with Iran has, or hasn't been reached; whether the Strait of Hormuz is, or isn't, open; or whether Donald Trump thinks the Iranians are "terrible people" or "good people".

This can obscure facts such as that the world economy has not actually collapsed as had been feared.

The global oil price fell back to around $US70 a barrel this week: much better than all the hovering it was doing for months around, and above, $US100 a barrel.

It's still above the $US50 to $US60 a barrel prevalent before the whole Iran thing started — and that continues to have inflationary effects around the world.

But whatever happens in talks between Iran and the United States, the sorts of prices now being quoted for oil reflect the fact that the global economy has somehow managed to shuffle itself around so that the 20 per cent cut in oil supply often quoted to be a result of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has not had the heart-stopping impact that was once feared by economists and governments around the world in March.

Just why that has happened provides a fascinating insight into the way the world economy works these days.

An unfortunate side effect of the incompetent and erratic negotiating tactics of the Trump administration is that some of the underlying stories in the global economy can get overlooked. (Reuters: Evelyn Hockstein)

China had oil in storage 

For starters, a much-overlooked factor may be that China — one of the biggest customers for oil from the Persian Gulf — simply cut its purchases in response to the crisis by a jaw-dropping 40 per cent.

This was on top of the fact that, according to an analysis released by the International Energy Agency this week, the global oil market "went into this crisis with significant buffers".

"In February, before the outbreak of hostilities, the IEA's market balances indicated a surplus of 3.7 million barrels a day for 2026 as a whole," the agency says.

"Global oil supply had been running ahead of demand for 12 months, with the amount of oil in storage reaching 8.2 billion barrels.

"China, notably, had for many months been hoovering up huge amounts of oil imports and putting them in storage.

"This, combined with demand reductions both by refiners and end-users enabled China to slash crude oil imports by 40 per cent — or 4.6 million barrels per day — between February and May, helping significantly to ease wider pressures in the global market."

There have been other big changes, including by Australia, which started buying oil from the US and Africa, among other less previously frequented markets.

Everyone quickly diversified

Countries have quickly diversified their markets. The United States increased its crude and petroleum product exports by nearly 25 per cent compared to the previous year.

Oil exports from the now earthquake-shattered Venezuela have jumped by over 40 per cent and Brazil's by a third.

Singapore is one of the world's biggest oil refiners. It is now importing over 10 per cent of its crude from the United States, compared to zero previously.

Those changes are on top of the shifts that producers in the Gulf rapidly implemented to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, such as the big increase in oil that Saudi Arabia started pumping through its East West pipeline to the Red Sea, and the UAE increasing its shipments to Fujairah — a port outside the strait.

This rapid capacity to adjust away from reliance on particular suppliers seems to have been a feature of many recent crises caused by global conflicts.

UN pauses Strait of Hormuz evacuation

The UN pauses its operation to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz after a vessel reports an attack.

The German economy appeared to be on its knees after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with the simultaneous closing down of oil and gas exports from Russia upon which Germany, and much of the rest of Western Europe, relied.

Within months, Germany had three floating LNG platforms in place. It had five processing centres operational within 12 months.

Crises like that one in 2022 seem to have made many countries much more focused on a diversity of energy supply options.

Analysts say the switch to renewables, electric power and vehicles also had a huge impact in stopping China being too hard hit by the sudden cut in oil supply.

But beyond basic shifts in supply and demand, the crisis seems to have underscored a lower overall global reliance on oil and oil products as the world economy transforms what it actually produces.

The Wall Street Journal noted last week that "advanced economies have shifted to less energy-intensive services such as finance and healthcare from more energy-hungry manufacturing".

"Consumer appliances have been re-engineered to use less electricity and firms have squeezed out improvements in industrial processes to save energy, a lesson Europe in particular took to heart after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022."

There has also been fuel rationing, cutbacks in things like flight schedules, shorter working days and restrictions on air conditioning

The WSJ says one way to gauge how effectively economies are using energy is to calculate the amount of energy burned to generate a dollar of gross domestic product.

"Adjusted for inflation, energy intensity has fallen by about a third since 2000 in the US and Europe and by about 40 per cent in China, according to World Bank data, a shift that helps economies weather supply disruptions." 

Meanwhile in Australia 

All these developments raise interesting questions about where the global economy goes from here, and about geopolitics for that matter.

Poorer countries — like some of those in our region — did not have the buffers of oil and gas reserves and have been harder hit.

Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson told a Senate Estimates hearing earlier this month that "some of Australia's largest trading partners, such as China, Japan and Korea, possess large energy stockpiles and are relatively better positioned to navigate oil and fuel shortages".

Warning economic slowdown is just beginning

The economy grew just 0.3 per cent in the first quarter this year, gross domestic product per capita went backwards, and interest rate rises and cost-of-living pressures are weighing on households.

"However, other South-East Asian economies with lower energy reserves and slimmer fiscal buffers are vulnerable to shortfalls, with many already imposing measures to manage energy demand," Wilkinson said. 

There's also the question at home about how nimble Australia has proved to be, or needs to be in the future. It was certainly able to get new supply lines opened up pretty quickly.

Relationships in the region were both tested and improved in some cases by having to deal with the shock.

That might be good cause to review how a shared interest in energy security can work for all of us in the future.

Other parts of the world will certainly have learnt another lesson.

And one of those lessons must surely be about the value of diversification — not just in actual supplies but in exposure to geo-strategic risk.

That will hold big implications for the Gulf region. As those IEA numbers show, the world was already heading towards an oversupply of oil in the period immediately before the US attacked Iran on February 28.

The pressure would seem to be for world energy buyers to be wanting to diversify away from the Gulf, rather than towards it, in the future, no matter how much Gulf countries are able to find alternative transport routes.

Could the markets be underpricing oil, and is that a problem? (David Taylor)

Not without its economic costs

Things may never quite go back to the way they were, in other words, particularly given renewables are providing new energy sources.

The Atlantic noted this week that "although Yemen's Houthi rebels formally halted their two-year rocket campaign against Western ships in the area last November, just half as many oil tankers are making the passage compared with 2023".

Overall even if we have managed to avoid a global recession, higher inflation and slower growth is not a good backdrop for any society.

Of course, it is not just trade in oil that has been hit by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

In Australia, that can be seen by the broadening out from the oil price shock raising prices in areas like home building — just what you don't need in a housing affordability crisis.

It will therefore help stoke the flames of frustration and anger already felt in so many countries around the world, including Australia, where people are confronted by cost of living pressures, and the apparent in ability of governments to do much about them.

Laura Tingle is the ABC's Global Affairs Editor. 

Europe's record-breaking heatwave has claimed hundreds of lives, health authorities say.

Extract from ABC News

• Topic:Heatwaves

4 hours ago

Health authorities have recorded hundreds of deaths as Europe suffers through a heatwave, with health workers facing record demand. (Reuters: Abdul Saboor)

In short:

More than 100 million Europeans were forecast to experience temperatures above 35 degrees.

Hundreds of deaths have been recorded across Spain, France, and the United Kingdom.

More temperature records have been broken. 

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Europe's record-breaking heatwave has claimed hundreds of lives, according to health authorities, as the continent battles through another day of scorching temperatures.

At least 101 million Europeans were forecast to swelter in temperatures of over 35 degrees on Thursday.

In Spain, where new temperature records have been set for June, the MoMo mortality-rate monitoring system said that 212 deaths between Sunday and Wednesday could be linked to the heat.

The UK recorded its hottest-ever June day on Thursday, with temperatures reaching 36.4 degrees in south-western Somerset, breaking the previous day's record and prompting a warning from the London Ambulance Service.

Paramedics responded to the highest-ever number of "life-threatening emergencies" on Wednesday, which, its chief executive, Jason Killens, said was "driven by the extreme heat".

Ambulance crews responded to a record 642 Category 1 calls that day, which include the most serious, life-threatening injuries and illnesses, such as cardiac arrests and patients who are not breathing.

A pharmacy sign in Paris as the city experiences another day of scorching temperatures. (Reuters: Gonzalo Fuentes)

Three deaths in northern France's Pas-de-Calais region were also "likely" caused by the heat, while a prosecutor said a three-year-old boy was found dead in a car in the suburbs of Paris, where temperatures topped 40 degrees on Wednesday.

Two other children died in similar circumstances in France this week, while at least 48 people have died in the country from drowning.

In Paris, 25 cardiac arrests were recorded over 24 hours on Wednesday, compared with fewer than 10 usually, Health Minister Stephanie Rist's office said.

At the national level, she said a fourfold increase in emergency room visits for heat-related reasons had been recorded.

Meanwhile, Parisians will be banned from drinking alcohol in public from midday onwards on Friday, local time, to curb health issues arising from the heatwave gripping France and much of Europe, the head of the Paris police said.

"I will publish an edict this evening, which will ban the consumption of alcohol in public from tomorrow midday onwards. As you know, drinking alcohol with the sun beating down can have a devastating effect," Paris police chief Patrice Faure told BFM TV.

Since the end of last week, more than 20 people across Germany have also lost their lives in swimming-related accidents, according to the German Life Saving Association.

The deputy director of the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service, Samantha Burgess, said the hot weather was due to a "heat dome" of trapped air from North Africa within a low-lying, high-pressure system, preventing cooler air from moving in.

People sit on a dock at lunchtime in the financial district of Canary Wharf as Britain experiences record temperatures.  (Reuters: Kevin Coombs)

"While heat domes are a natural weather phenomenon, anthropogenic climate change is making heatwaves more severe and more likely to reach record-breaking temperatures," she said.

Switzerland also registered its hottest-ever June temperature on Thursday, with 38 degrees measured in the northern city of Basel, breaking a previous record of 36.9 set eight decades ago, the Swiss weather service said.

While The Netherlands issued its first ever red alert for heat for Friday, warning of "dangerous" conditions.

Germany, Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic also face a torrid few days as temperatures are forecast to soar further east and south.

The national weather institute issued the alert for much of the country, where temperatures are forecast to reach 40 degrees in some places.

French Education Minister Edouard Geffray said that 13,500 schools were closed or placed on special schedules on Thursday, while more than 1,000 schools were closed or partially closed in Britain.

AFP/Reuters

Thousands feared dead as major rescue operation underway in earthquake-struck Venezuela.

 Extract from ABC News

• Topic:Earthquakes

5 hours ago

In short:

Two powerful earthquakes, measuring magnitude-7.5 and 7.2, have struck Venezuela near the capital Caracas. 

Jorge Rodríguez, who heads Venezuela's national assembly, said at least 188 people had died, 1,520 people were injured, and at least 250 buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

What's next?

A "massive" UN-coordinated recovery effort is underway to find survivors, with countries from around the world deploying search-and-rescue teams.

Link copied

Venezuela is in a state of emergency, with a major search and rescue operation underway, after the worst earthquakes in more than 120 years hit the country.

Jorge Rodríguez, who heads the country's national assembly, said at least 188 people had died, 1,520 people were injured, and at least 250 buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

The magnitude-7.2 and 7.5  earthquakes, which struck near the capital Caracas within a minute of each other on Wednesday night local time, were the worst recorded in Venezuela since 1900.

The United Nations was coordinating a major rescue operation with many people believed to be trapped beneath collapsed buildings.

A hospital was evacuated after it was damaged in the earthquake. (AP Photo: Pedro Mattey)

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher called for "massive collective efforts".

Offers of help poured in from around the world, including from the United States, which seized Venezuela's then-president Nicolás Maduro at the beginning of the year in a surprise military operation.

Specialist rescuers certified by the UN have been deployed to search for survivors, with countries across Europe, Central and South America, and the Middle East sending personnel and equipment to assist.

Emergency services work at the site of a collapsed building in Caracas. (Reuters: Leonardo Fernandez Viloria)

Mr Fletcher warned that even before the earthquakes hit, nearly eight million people in Venezuela were in need of humanitarian support.

"This disaster risks deepening existing vulnerabilities,"

he said.

Death toll predicted to climb

Acting/Interim President Delcy Rodríguez said the death toll was expected to climb as rescue workers began searching in one of the worst-hit areas, La Guaira, a coastal region just north of Caracas.

The US Geological Survey, using predictive modelling to estimate the death toll, said the death toll could run into the thousands.

"Dozens of buildings have collapsed there … and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives," Ms Rodríguez said in a national address.

"La Guaira state is a true tragedy, and has become a disaster zone."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said one of the runways at Caracas’s international airport was cracked in the earthquake, making landing aircraft there difficult for rescue efforts.

Social media video also showed the terminal's ceiling collapsing over panicked travellers.

"We will have a whole government response," he said.

"It will be big. It will be fast. It will be effective."

Venezuelans gather in front of a damaged building in Caracas on Wednesday evening. (Reuters: Fausto Torrealba)

Thousands believed to be missing

Authorities have not provided an official figure for those reported missing, but a website set up to track missing people had hit about 10,000 people within hours.

Dayana Delgado, mother of three children, said she was desperate because her eight-year-old was missing.

"I want to know where my child is, if he's trapped or in a shelter," she said.

A major rescue operation is looking for survivors under collapsed buildings. (Reuters: Gaby Oraa)

Scores of people in Venezuela and abroad have struggled to contact family members, as power and phone coverage were wiped out in many areas, with families posting on social media desperate for information.

Residents across Caracas, where infrastructure was already crumbling due to a lack of investment, rushed to evacuate as buildings shook.

Many Venezuelans were at home when the quakes struck during a public holiday.

"There was a very loud crash. Things fell in the house, jugs inside the refrigerator. I've never experienced anything like it," said Coro Martinez, 56, who lives in eastern Caracas.

$200 million pledged to repair buildings

Ms Rodríguez said her government was creating a US$200 million ($288 million) reconstruction fund for hospitals and homes damaged by the earthquakes.

Houses have collapsed near the quake's epicentre in Morón, a small seaside town in the state of Carabobo, where there was also no water or electricity. 

The Venezuelan Red Cross said its headquarters had been critically damaged but managed to send rescue teams to the worst-affected areas. 

Caracas's Hospital de Clínicas was also damaged with videos posted on social media showing hallways plunged into darkness while ceiling panels hang by cables and pieces of plaster lie scattered across the floor.

Rescue workers from around the world have been deployed to Venezuela. (AP Photo: Pedro Mattey)

School has been cancelled for the rest of the week with buildings expected to be used for rescue and recovery efforts, while the stock exchange has also been closed with the building to be repurposed into a collection centre for urgent supplies.

Ms Rodríguez has called for unity in Venezuela, where anti-government protests over annual inflation of more than 500 per cent have become more frequent since  US President Donald Trump ordered the capture of President Nicolas Maduro in a violent raid in January.

ABC/wires