U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Great American State Fair kickoff celebration on the National Mall on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 in Washington, DC, USA.
Bonnie Cash | Bloomberg | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Wednesday pledged U.S. resources to earthquake-hit Venezuela after back-to-back 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude tremors near the country’s northern coast, toppling buildings in the capital Caracas and imposing a state of emergency.
“The United States is ready, willing and able to help,” President Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday evening. The president called the Venezuelan people “new great friends,” adding that he had instructed all government agencies to prepare “to act quickly.”
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the same day that the United States is in contact with Venezuelan authorities to mobilize aid to the South American nation.
Venezuela’s acting president Delcy RodrÃguez declared a state of emergency in a national address on Wednesday night, and later announced that at least 164 people had been killed and 971 injured, according to Reuters.
Jeremy Lewin, a senior State Department official, said the State Department has already mobilized disaster relief teams and task forces to provide and coordinate critical assistance to Venezuelans, including search and rescue teams, medical supplies and humanitarian resources.
The U.S. Geological Survey issued two consecutive emergency alerts through its PAGER system, estimating a 41% chance that the death toll would exceed 10,000 and a 17% chance that the death toll would reach 100,000. Officials also predicted that the devastating earthquake could reduce Venezuela’s GDP by up to 7%.
In a video message posted on X Thursday morning, Rodriguez thanked the Trump administration for providing “support and solidarity” and the Dominican Republic for sending a rescue team to Venezuela.
China and Brazil are sending humanitarian aid to the country, and the Qatari government is preparing a rescue brigade expected to arrive on Thursday, she said.
Rescue workers and city police officers work at the site of a collapsed building after the earthquake in Caracas, June 24, 2026.
Manaure Quintero | AFP | Getty Images
The earthquake was one of the strongest to hit the country in the past 100 years. Venezuela is located in a seismically active zone where the Caribbean and South American plates meet.
The U.S.’s quick offer of assistance reflects a degree of diplomatic realignment between the Trump administration and Venezuela’s interim government, led by RodrÃguez.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that the Department of the Army will play a logistics role in disaster relief after the earthquake damaged Caracas’ airport. Rubio said the U.S. government’s response to the disaster “will be large-scale, swift and effective.”
He also said it was a “setback” to Venezuela’s stabilization efforts following the military intervention in January that detained then-President Nicolas Maduro. Since then, the US government has controlled Venezuela’s oil exports.
The U.S. has been Venezuela’s biggest oil buyer since January, with estimated U.S.-controlled exports jumping from $600 million in January to $3.7 billion in April, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, with an estimated $8 billion moved through the deal with little transparency or oversight. The next most common countries are India and Spain.
