Two major earthquakes struck Venezuela in quick succession on Wednesday night. More than 160 people were confirmed dead on Thursday morning, with hundreds more injured, and the death toll is expected to rise.
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The larger magnitude 7.5 quake occurred just 40 seconds after the magnitude 7.2 foreshock. This is the largest earthquake recorded in Venezuela in over 100 years.
Earthquakes are measured by magnitude on a logarithmic scale, so each integer increase means that the energy released by an earthquake increases by a factor of 32. Because of how scale works, the second magnitude 7.5 quake was actually twice as large as the first magnitude 7.2 quake.
Both earthquakes were classified as “major” and were felt in both Venezuela and neighboring Colombia. Severe damage to buildings and infrastructure is expected to be reported within days.
The earthquake damaged power and communications infrastructure, causing internet connectivity to plummet across Venezuela, according to data from monitoring group Netblocks.
