Reacción a "Two consecutive major earthquakes hit Venezuela"

The two earthquakes in Venezuela, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the magnitude scale, occurred at 10:04 p.m. UTC—6:00 p.m. in Caracas—40 seconds apart and 5 kilometers apart. Their fault types are also similar—both are strike-slip faults—and they have fairly shallow hypocenters, between 10 and 20 km (according to the USGS).

The damage that this type of shallow, high-magnitude earthquake—especially when they occur in quick succession—can cause is significant due to the minimal attenuation of seismic waves as they reach the surface and, furthermore, the accumulation of the vibrations generated by both earthquakes.

In recorded history, there have been several cases of double earthquakes (doublets). The one most similar to the current event occurred in Pakistan in 1997, with two earthquakes of magnitudes 7.0 and 6.8 occurring 19 seconds apart. In Spain, there have also been earthquakes occurring in quick succession with similar magnitudes. For example, during the 2021 Granada seismic series, three main earthquakes with magnitudes between 4.1 and 4.3 occurred in less than 20 minutes, with an intensity of V (IGN).

After any earthquake that is felt, aftershocks of lower magnitude than the main event usually occur, but it can also happen—as in the case of the earthquakes in Venezuela or Granada—that earthquakes of the same magnitude occur, or even, as in Lorca in 2011, that an earthquake of magnitude 5.1 occurs less than two hours after a magnitude 4.5 earthquake. In this case, the magnitude 4.5 earthquake is called a foreshock.

Maintaining a catalog of earthquakes allows us to better understand the planet’s dynamics and study seismic hazard in order to develop appropriate earthquake-resistant construction plans for each region.