Magnitude 6.5 Ms Date 29 July 1967 | Number of casualties 236 | |
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Similar 1812 Caracas earthquake, 1997 Cariaco earthquake, 2009 Venezuela earthquake, Vargas tragedy, 1875 Cúcuta earthquake | ||
The 1967 Caracas earthquake occurred on 29 July at 20:00 local time, and was centered near the coast about 30 miles west of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela with a magnitude of 6.5. When the earth stopped shaking, about 240 inhabitants were dead and hundreds injured and buried in the rubble where homes and offices once stood. More than $100 million property damage was incurred in the Caracas area, and about 80,000 persons were left homeless.
Damage
Damage was extensive in the Altamira and Los Palos Grandes sections of Caracas where four major apartment buildings, 10 to 12 stories high, collapsed. Many additional structures were severely damaged and several had to be razed and reconstructed.
Huge sections of walls fell from buildings, flattening cars below and leaving large portions of structures exposed. Rescue workers used cranes and bulldozers to search through the rubble for survivors or victims of the earthquake. A week after the shock, in Caraballeda, rescue operations continued for persons believed trapped beneath the floors of Mansion Charaima, an apartment building across the street from the Macuto Sheraton (which was also damaged). Maracay, about 50 miles west of Caracas, reported five deaths and 100 injuries. Several additional towns reported structural damage.
