At least four earthquakes struck northwest Venezuela on Wednesday and early Thursday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), sending tremors across the South American country, including the capital, Caracas.
Tremors were felt in several states in Venezuela, as well as over the border in neighbouring Colombia, with residential and office buildings evacuated along the frontier.
No damage or casualties have been reported so far.
The USGS said the strongest earthquake and its aftershocks had magnitudes ranging between 6.3 and 4.9, and all had epicentres near the town of Mene Grande in Zulia state, about 600km (370 miles) west of Caracas.
However, Venezuela’s Communications Minister Freddy Nanez said at least one earthquake’s epicentre was located in Barinas state.
While the magnitudes of the earthquakes were not very high, the USGS recorded them at depths ranging from 7.8km (5 miles) to 14km (8.7 miles). Earthquakes triggered at such shallow depths are more powerful than those of the same magnitude at greater depths.
Mene Grande, located on Lake Maracaibo’s eastern coast in Venezuela’s far northwest, is an important area for Venezuela’s oil industry. The South American country has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
Venezuela is located near several fault lines caused by the interaction between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates, with about 80 percent of the country’s population living in active seismic zones.
Five major earthquakes have struck Venezuela’s north in the last century – including a magnitude 7.2 quake off its northern coast in 2018 – causing more than 400 deaths.