Catastrophic “Doublet” in Venezuela: An Engineering Perspective

An earthquake (भूकम्प) is one of nature’s greatest disasters which, if it is severe, can cause violent tremors and leave an entire nation in a state of terror. In the context of Nepal, the most recent 2015 Gorkha Earthquake dealt the greatest shock to our nation, causing a massive loss of life and property. Recently, we saw those same terrors and tremors strike another nation. Venezuela was devastated by a highly unusual twin earthquake on June 24, 2026, marking the most catastrophic seismic event the country has experienced in over a century.

The Twin Earthquake and its Causes

What makes this earthquake highly unusual is not its magnitude or the resulting damage, but rather its geological nature. Two powerful earthquakes of magnitude of 7.2 at 22:04:33 UTC and magnitude of 7.5 at 22:05:11 UTC (source: USGS) had occurred consecutively in an interval of less than 40 seconds. This created serious havoc in the nation especially in the city La Guaira and the Capital City Caracas both cities located 100 miles east from the epicenter.

According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ Potsdam), this catastrophe unfolded as a cascading tectonic reaction: the first earthquake tore through the northeastern tip of the Boconó Fault, instantly transferring its stress eastward and triggering a second, more violent rupture along the San Sebastián Fault just 39 seconds later.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the effects reached a maximum Modified Mercalli Intensity of MMI IX (Violent Shaking) and the estimated Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) exceeded 0.60g to 0.80g in highly urbanized cities like La Guaira and Caracas.

 Effects of the Earthquake

Because this was a doublet earthquake, structures that were destabilized or cracked by the first shock were subjected to a violent, peak energy release during the second. This triggered immediate progressive collapses due to the overwhelming seismic loads of a doublet event, which is an exceptional demand for which buildings are seldom designed.

The rupture propagated eastward from the epicenter toward the coastal state of La Guaira and urban areas like Caracas, with districts such as Los Palos Grandes and La Pastora experiencing particularly severe building failures. Satellite radar imagery analyzed by NASA and Oregon State University estimates that approximately 58,870 buildings were likely damaged or destroyed, far exceeding early local tallies. Total economic losses are projected to far exceed the $10 billion threshold, with direct physical damage alone impacting roughly 6% of Venezuela’s GDP.

The official death toll has risen to 2,954, marking an increase of over 300 fatalities since late last week as rescue workers continue to clear heavy debris fields. Documented injuries have climbed to 16,592, while Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams have successfully pulled 6,462 survivors alive from the rubble since the start of the emergency. Approximately 28,300 people have been displaced, and tens of thousands remain reported missing.

The intense ground shaking, which reached a Modified Mercalli Intensity of IX (Violent) in some zones, triggered widespread secondary landslides across sloping terrains. Rapid engineering assessments (ERES) conducted by PAHO/WHO at core facilities in Caracas and La Guaira confirmed that at least 91 hospitals have been severely damaged, with structural failures critically compromising service continuity.

Water distribution pipelines, domestic gas supply lines, and electrical grids suffered widespread ruptures and trips. The acute lack of drinking water and sanitation infrastructure has prompted urgent warnings from the WHO regarding potential waterborne disease outbreaks.

Meanwhile, major highways and access roads connecting the coast to the Caracas valley remain blocked by debris and structural collapses. The physical destruction of transmission towers and power routing centers caused an immediate breakdown of communication networks, leaving local authorities without the critical, ground-up telemetry needed to coordinate emergency response services.

Long-Term Mitigation & Engineering Lessons

Engineers say Venezuela’s seismic codes are some of the best in Latin America. However, from the initial assessment of circulating media and experts’ claims, a major factor for this level of damage is decades of economic sanctions that led to severe underinvestment, meaning most buildings in Caracas and La Guaira were not constructed to meet modern earthquake safety standards. Even after the modern code started being used, older buildings were not updated as per its norms and seemed to lack proper ductility and detailing. Many buildings were reported to have collapsed due to soft stories at the ground floor, which is a highly flawed architectural configuration yet widely practiced. In seismic zones, there needs to be a proper combination of strength, ductility, detailing and, if possible, system-level configuration for energy dissipation and deformation control. Also, many engineers claim that the structural community should shift toward resilience-based design rather than just prescriptive force-based design to maximize safety and post-disaster functionality, while minimizing downtime and repair costs. To improve resilience against sequential seismic events, engineering and policy efforts must shift toward adopting building standards that account for repeated loading rather than a single peak ground acceleration event.

Relevance of Venezuela’s Earthquake to Nepal

Today, the condition of Venezuela may somehow resemble Nepal’s condition a few years back. The 2015 Gorkha earthquake had deeply scarred Nepal and had affected more than one-third of the population. Both the countries lie in highly seismic prone areas. It was claimed that Venezuela’s structural design codes were the best in Latin America. Still, lack of proper design practices and lack of update on the design philosophies has led to devastation in Venezuela. No one had predicted the earthquake, and a doublet earthquake was completely out of the question. Comparing the PGA of Venezuela’s 0.6g to 0.8g earthquake, Kathmandu had comparatively less PGA of about 0.16g, yet the terror it caused haunts us till now.

The ultimate lessons we can learn from our 2015 Gorkha Earthquake and the recent Venezuela’s doublet earthquake is that we must strictly follow proper design practices. Urgent retrofitting should be performed on older soft-stories and masonry walls, and we should start practicing resilience-based design so our buildings remain fully functional right after a disaster. Speaking in the context of Nepal, proper engineering planning and testing are commonly considered insignificant and uneconomical. But in reality, it is important to understand that properly engineered structures are made to optimize code-implied safety with economy which makes the structure safe with ‘lesser’ cost as compared to only-contracted projects. So, we are still lacking awareness in this discipline which should be addressed soon.

Such events remind us that structural safety is not just a theoretical calculation on paper, but a direct responsibility toward saving human lives.

 Source: U.S. Marine Corps – Public Domain (US federal government work) – via Wikimedia Commons

Source: By Venezolana de Televisión – Public Domain

Author Dahal and Adhikary are working engineers based in Nepal