Earthquakes in Venezuela: aftershocks are recorded that add concern amid the desperate search for survivors in the rubble

This information confirms that telluric activity in the region is still active, something that according to specialists It can last for weeks and even months.

Although the aftershocks have no destructive power, Yes, they can further complicate the situation of buildings and other structures that have become unstable or weakened. after the earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 that unleashed the disaster on Wednesday: official figures already account for 589 dead, but there are more than 50,000 people who remain missing.

The Venezuelan Foundation for Seismological Research (Funvisis) reported that at 0:19 this Friday local time (1:19 in the morning in Argentina), registered a replica of 4.5 degrees with epicenter 30 kilometers northeast of San Felipe, Yaracuay state, and a depth of 9.2 kilometers.

Videos spread on social networks showed the panic: Rescuers and others ran through the rubble to protect themselves of the possible fall of masonry or other objects.

A tremor also of 4,5 had occurred at 1:48 on Thursday west of Naiguata, in La Guaira, 7 kilometers from the surface.

Afterwards, at 3:14 p.m. on the same Thursday, Funvisis detected another movement of magnitude 4.0 27 kilometers east of Bachaquero, in the western state of Zulia and far from Wednesday’s epicenter, and a depth of 5 kilometers.

According to official statistics, the aftershocks are mainly concentrated in La Guaira, Yaracuy and Aragua, and also several of them were at sea. Movements of magnitude 4 or greater can be clearly felt near the epicenter.

The director of the National Seismic Network of the National Geographic Institute (IGN) of Spain, Juan Vicente Cantavella, explained that although earthquakes cannot be predicted, after a large earthquake statistically There is around a 20% chance that an aftershock above magnitude 6 will occur in the following days.

The affected area is highly seismic because it is located on the active edge between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates, where “earthquakes are usually superficial and have an epicenter on land”, which “increases their danger”, Cantavella warned in statements reproduced by the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia.

Seismologist Lucía Lozano explained to the EFE agency that the aftershocks are part of the fault readjustment process after the main landslide.

“These subsequent movements can last for days, weeks, months or even years after a very large earthquake, although they tend to decrease in frequency over time,” he said.