August 2018 Venezuela earthquake

On August 21, 2018 a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck just off the northern coast of Venezuela, near Cariaco, Sucre. The earthquake is thought to be the largest in the country since the 1900 San Narciso earthquake. It prompted evacuations in Caracas, and caused shaking in Colombia, Guyana, Brazil, Grenada, Dominica, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago, the last of which also suffered damage and brief phone and power outages from about 100 miles away. A tsunami was not expected, though the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center warned of wave potential, and an alert had been broadcast for tsunami waves along coastlines. In terms of damage, concrete fell from the unfinished Tower of David skyscraper, blocking the sidewalk and closing traffic.

According to the governor of Sucre State, there were initially no reports of fatalities in the area. Though several sources from the Venezuelan government reported no injuries, there were reports of injuries in a shopping centre in Cumaná, close to the epicentre, when an escalator collapsed. Later, five people were confirmed dead, after heart attacks during the quake from shock. Interior Minister Néstor Reverol maintained that there were no fatalities.

The earthquakes follow a series of related earthquakes two weeks earlier in neighbouring Colombia, including brief shakes of 6.1 and 5.8 magnitude on August 7.