Venezuela earthquake before-and

Venezuela earthquake before-and-after photos show 'catastrophic' destruction

Pair of 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes hit Wednesday afternoon, causing widespread damage

As rescuers search for survivors, photos are beginning to roll in that show the scale of destruction after Venezuela was hit by back-to-back earthquakes on Wednesday afternoon.

Two strong earthquakes — one a magnitude of 7.2 and the other 7.5 — struck north central Venezuela a minute apart on Wednesday afternoon. The quakes caused several buildings to collapse in the capital, Caracas, with emergency crews racing to rescue people from the rubble.

LIVE: Search for survivors underway after Venezuela hit by back-to-back earthquakes

The president of Venezuela's National Assembly said Thursday that 188 people are dead, more than 1,500 are injured and another 200 are still trapped. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the death toll could range from 10,000 to 100,000.

Damage was particularly bad in the coastal region of La Guaira, north of Caracas.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney called the earthquakes "catastrophic."

These before-and-after photos of buildings and landmarks verified by CBC News show just how hard the region was hit. We'll add more as we're able to verify them.

In La Guaira, a photo posted on social media and verified by CBC News shows the renowned Hotel Eduard's completely collapsed.

The beachfront retreat located on Avenida La Playa had 106 rooms, according to travel website Trivago. It also had a large restaurant.

A note posted to the hotel's Instagram page on Thursday said rescue teams were urgently needed.

Above is a composite image of Residencias Rita Sol Palace, an apartment building in Caraballeda, Venezuela.

Caraballeda is a town on the central coast of the Caribbean Sea. Residencias Rita Sol Palace has apartments listed on several booking sites, such as VRBO, for rooms close to the beach.

The before photo, taken from Google Maps, shows the 11-storey building. The after photo on the right, verified by CBC, shows nothing except the gate still standing.

The photo above shows another building in La Guaira that appears to have completely collapsed after Wednesday's earthquakes.

The seven-storey building was directly across the main street from Playa Ali Baba, and beside the Litoral Palacios Hotel, which appears to still be standing. The collapsed building, seen in a photo taken by a Reuters photographer on Wednesday, is just rubble.

You can also see that the red structure previously at street level is now raised on top of the wreckage.

Officials in Venezuela have said dozens of buildings collapsed in the area.

Damage could also be seen in Valencia, Venezuela's third-largest city.

Photos show cracks running through the Basílica Catedral de Valencia. In an Instagram post on Thursday, the parish priest Joel de Jesús Núñez Flautes wrote that both towers of the cathedral are fractured and the cathedral and parish office will be closed until further notice.

"Let's keep Venezuela in our prayers," Flautes wrote in Spanish.

CBC was also able to verify before-and-after images that show the damage to the Comptroller's Office of the State of La Guaira in Catia La Mar, a city and port about 30 kilometres northwest of Caracas.

Photos from Catia La Mar show buildings reduced to rubble, scenes of devastation and people sifting through the wreckage. Others show casualties and displaced residents taking shelter in a stadium.

The above photo of the comptroller's office shows how the building has partially collapsed and shifted backward, with rubble in the street below it.

Natalie Stechyson has been a writer and editor at CBC News since 2021. She covers stories on social trends, families, gender, human interest, as well as general news. She's worked as a journalist since 2009, with stints at the Globe and Mail and Postmedia News, among others. Before joining CBC News, she was the parents editor at HuffPost Canada, where she won a silver Canadian Online Publishing Award for her work on pregnancy loss. You can reach her at natalie.stechyson@cbc.ca.

With files from David Michael Lamb, Graeme Bruce and Showwei Chu, CBC