Earthquakes 24 May 2026 – Northern Venezuela

Two earthquakes of magnitude 7.1 and 7.5 struck northern Venezuela, at approximately 170 km from the capital, Caracas, at 6:04 p.m. local time, within 39 seconds of each other, with a shallow depth (approximately 10 km). Shallow depth means that the energy emitted by the seismic waves did not have time to dissipate before reaching the surface, thus having the potential to cause much greater damage to infrastructure. Furthermore, aftershocks are expected.

Source : https://m.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake_information/earthquake.php?id=2016614

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), only five earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 7 have occurred in this region since 1900.

Both earthquakes were caused by fault movement along a strike-slip fault system at the boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates. The various “beach ball” models shown below represent the analyses conducted by different seismological observatories based on the data available to them to determine the fault movement.

Source : EMSC – 2016533 Source : EMSC - 2016614

One of the questions underlying the occurrence of these two strong earthquakes is to clarify the rupture mechanism. The goal is to determine whether this is a seismic sequence of the precursor–mainshock–aftershock type or a seismic doublet—two earthquakes generated by the nearly simultaneous rupture of two adjacent faults, each of which will be followed by its own series of aftershocks.

For more information :

USGS – Earthquake M 7.2 and M 7.5, 24 June 2026
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000t7zc/executive https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000t7zp/executive

Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center – Earthquakes M 7.2 and 7.5
https://m.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake_information/earthquake_map.php?id=2016533 https://m.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake_information/earthquake.php?id=2016614

Focal mechanisms
https://www.iris.edu/hq/inclass/animation/focal_mechanisms_explained