Members of Churches of Christ are among those lost in a series of earthquakes that shook the South American nation of Venezuela Wednesday.
“It’s a terrible situation,” said Germán Chirinos, a minister in the nation’s capital, Caracas, in a message to The Christian Chronicle. “Communications are down. There are places without electricity. Some people are trapped under buildings.”
Adela Maqueda, who worshiped with a Church of Christ in Caracas, and her niece died when a wall collapsed on top of them, Chirinos said. Another church member named Edgar sustained a skull fracture. Friends carried him on a bicycle to the nearest hospital.
Residents walk among the rubble of building damaged in earthquakes the previous day in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026.
In Caracas, “Many buildings collapsed partially, but others completely,” Chirinos said.
Closer to the quakes’ epicenters, the damage could be worse.
The first earthquake struck near the town of San Felipe, about 100 miles west of the capital, about 5 p.m. Wednesday. A second, larger quake followed less than a minute later near the town of Yumare. The quakes are the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
At least 164 people died and nearly 1,000 more were injured, according to initial reports from Venezuela’s government. Among the hardest-hit regions are communities in Venezuela’s La Guaira state, north of Caracas. At least one couple who worshiped with a Church of Christ there died in the quakes, church members reported. Several other members in La Guaira are missing, Chirinos said.
Carlos León, who ministers for a Church of Christ in San Antonio de los Altos, south of Caracas, said that a group of church members were meeting in an apartment when the earthquakes began. They prayed quickly before taking the stairs out of the building and helping others.
“There are many elderly people in that building, people in wheelchairs,” León said. Those at the service “began to help people get out and to carry people.”
León sent a quick voicemail message to the Chronicle as his cellphone was losing its charge. The minister has been without power for a day, he said.
A sign in Cucuta, Colombia, points the way to the border crossing into Venezuela.
“It’s been sad and difficult because we have lost church members, particularly here in San Antonio,” León said, “but also brothers and sisters we know from other congregations, some of whom remain trapped.”
Some, including Edgar, are recovering from their injuries.
“But there are other brothers … we’re trying to pull out of the rubble,” León said, “hoping they’re also alive.”
The natural disaster follows more than a decade of economic and political turmoil in Venezuela. More than 7 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2014, and those who remain struggle with unemployment and rising crime rates. In January, the U.S. attacked Caracas and seized the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, indicting them on charges of narcoterrorism. Delcy Rodríguez serves as Venezuela’s acting president, but uncertainty hangs over the country’s future and its relationship with the U.S.
Now, León said, “the earthquake complicates everything.”
Additional reporting: Ted Parks.
