The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday evening was among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and was felt throughout the region.
The latest death count from the twin earthquakes that rattled Venezuela on Wednesday stands at 235, and foreign nationals have been confirmed among the victims.
Here is what we know so far about the identities of the quakes’ overseas victims:
Two Brazilians
The foreign ministry of Brazil, which shares a border with Venezuela, said Thursday that two of its citizens — a man and a woman — had died in the disaster.
The government was providing their relatives with consular assistance, the ministry said.
One Italian-Venezuelan
A man in his mid-50s, born in Caracas and holding both Italian and Venezuelan nationality, was killed when a building collapsed in the hardest-hit region of La Guaira, Rome’s foreign ministry said Thursday.
Italy estimates there are about 170,000 Italian passport-holders in Venezuela.
Two Chinese
Two Chinese nationals were confirmed among the victims of the earthquakes as of Thursday afternoon, Beijing’s state news agency Xinhua reported, citing the embassy in Caracas.
The embassy posted a statement on its official WeChat account, urging Chinese citizens in Venezuela to “take precautions against secondary disasters caused by aftershocks and (other) earthquakes.
One Portuguese
Portugal’s foreign ministry said it “confirms the first death of a Portuguese citizen” in the quakes.
The man was pulled alive from the rubble but died on his way to the hospital, the ministry said on X.
