Iraq announces its “full” solidarity with Venezuela following two devastating earthquakes that struck the country.
Iraq announces its “full” solidarity with Venezuela following two devastating earthquakes that struck the country.
2026-06-25
Shafaq News – Baghdad
The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed on Thursday its “deepest” solidarity and condolences to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, following the two earthquakes that struck the country, resulting in a number of casualties and injuries, as well as the severe material damage inflicted on the affected areas.
The Ministry said in a statement that the Republic of Iraq, while sharing the feelings of sorrow of the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its friendly people in this painful circumstance, affirms its support for Venezuela and its full solidarity with it in facing the effects of this disaster.
The ministry also extended its deepest condolences and sincere sympathies to the families of the victims and their relatives, and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.
At least 164 people were killed and about 1,000 injured in a new, still preliminary toll from the earthquake that struck Venezuela on Thursday.
Acting President Delcy Rodriguez announced that the death toll from the earthquake that struck the country had risen to 164, with 971 injured, noting that about 30 aftershocks had been recorded following the earthquake, which is considered the strongest since 1900.
Rodriguez had previously announced that at least 32 people had died as a result of the two earthquakes, which measured 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, and that the death toll was likely to rise as rescue teams continued to search under the rubble of collapsed buildings and emergency teams reached the affected areas.
The two earthquakes, among the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century, shook the entire region, with buildings being evacuated in affected cities and areas as far away as the Brazilian Amazon, about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
The first earthquake, measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, struck at 18:04 (2204 GMT) at a depth of 21.9 km, about 200 km from Caracas. It was followed 39 seconds later by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake at a depth of 10 km, about 45 km away, followed by about twenty aftershocks, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The US agency stated that this is the strongest earthquake to hit Venezuela in more than a century, since a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Caracas on October 29, 1900, causing “significant damage”.
shafaq.com
