Before Venezuela earthquakes, engineers worried buildings could collapse

Key Points:

• Venezuela experienced two massive earthquakes on Wednesday, resulting in at least 1,430 deaths, over 3,200 injuries, and widespread building collapses, with hundreds still missing amid rescue efforts.
• Structural engineers had long warned that Venezuela's combination of soft ground soil and tall concrete buildings lacking proper seismic reinforcement posed a high risk of catastrophic collapse during a major earthquake.
• Investigations suggest that many collapsed buildings suffered from construction deficiencies, outdated seismic codes, insufficient oversight, and a prioritization of profit over safety, exacerbated by weakened institutional supervision under current governance.
• The earthquakes ruptured about 100 miles of fault lines along the boundary of the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates, heavily damaging areas including Caracas and the port city of La Guaira, where older buildings and poor construction quality contributed to severe destruction.
• Despite Venezuela's known seismic vulnerability and prior studies recommending retrofitting and seismic protections, political and economic turmoil hindered implementation and funding of necessary safety measures, increasing the disaster's impact.