The death toll from the powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela’s northern Caribbean coast has risen to 188, authorities confirmed on Thursday, as emergency crews continue search and rescue operations.

Jorge Rodriguez, President of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said 1,520 people have been hospitalized with injuries, while 157 people remain missing. Rescue teams are still searching for more than 200 people believed to be trapped beneath collapsed buildings.

According to officials, 138 aftershocks have been recorded since the twin 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes struck late Wednesday, causing widespread destruction.

Rodriguez said 346 infrastructure sites sustained damage, including 250 buildings, 20 shopping centers, and eight hospitals, forcing authorities to transfer patients to other medical facilities.

The Venezuelan government has announced the establishment of a $200 million emergency reconstruction fund to support the rebuilding of damaged homes, hospitals, and other critical infrastructure.

Following the disaster, Acting President Delcy Rodriguez declared a national state of emergency, while tsunami warnings were issued across parts of the Caribbean region after the powerful earthquakes.

Strong earthquakes struck west of Venezuela’s capital on Wednesday afternoon, toppling buildings in Caracas, trapping people in the rubble and prompting scientists to warn of potentially heavy casualties and widespread destruction across the ​South American country.

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit about 160 km (100 miles) west of Caracas, followed less than a minute later by a magnitude 7.5 tremor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Reuters reported.

“High casualties ‌and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” the USGS said, initially estimating the death toll would most likely range from 10,000 to 100,000.

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez said she would declare a state of emergency and request funds from multilateral organizations to back the recovery effort.

“We extend our condolences to those who have unfortunately suffered the loss of a family member,” she said in a national address, without giving a national count for deaths or injuries.

Local officials and witnesses reported collapsed buildings, rescues and a growing ​number of injured.

“We have buildings, homes and houses which have collapsed and we are taking care of things with everything we have available in terms of security, civil assistance,” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said ​earlier on state television.

Video footage showed emergency workers climbing through the ruins of a collapsed building in the capital as night fell, while distraught relatives sought help for ⁠loved ones believed to be trapped.

Gustavo Duque, the mayor of the Chacao municipality in Caracas, said several buildings collapsed, and 18 survivors were extracted from one building alone. He urged onlookers to seek shelter and aid at public ​plazas because there could be aftershocks.

“We’re going to do everything we can to rescue the most people possible,” he said.

Twenty-two people were injured in the coastal state of Falcon, Governor Victor Clark said on state television. Fifteen missing people, ​all adults, were still being searched for.

RESIDENTS RUSH INTO THE STREETS

Many Venezuelans were at home when the quakes struck during a public holiday marking an 1821 military victory that helped secure the country’s independence from Spain.

“As soon as it started, we began hearing people screaming,” said Astrid Ramirez, a 41-year-old publicist in western Caracas. “Everyone was running down the stairs.”

Residents across Caracas, which was also hit by a deadly magnitude 6.3 earthquake in 1967, rushed to evacuate as buildings shook.

“There was a very loud crash. Things fell in ​the house, jugs inside the refrigerator. I’ve never experienced anything like it,” said Coro Martinez, 56, who lives in eastern Caracas.

Item 1 of 10 Emergency services work at the site of a collapsed building after an earthquake, in Caracas, Venezuela, June 24. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa

Maria Romero, an 80-year-old pensioner in southern Caracas, said police helped her get out of her home. “This earthquake ​was horrible, even worse than the one in 1967,” she said.

Another resident, a 41-year-old office worker who declined to be named, said she received an earthquake alert on her phone just before the shaking intensified.

“As I picked it up and started listening ‌to what it ⁠was saying, I first felt light shaking. Then, in less than two seconds, everything started moving.”

Rodriguez has been running the country since the U.S. ouster of President Nicolas Maduro in January. She has hailed a new era of cooperation with the U.S. and other countries, especially on oil, mining and other industries.

The U.S. embassy in Caracas said it was closely monitoring the aftermath of the quake and urged citizens in the country to seek secure shelter and avoid damaged areas.

HOSPITALS BRACE FOR THE INJURED

Fire trucks were seen on the streets of Caracas, where some buildings suffered significant facade damage.

At Caracas’ Hospital de Clinicas, staff were asked to double up on the night shift to help treat the ​injured, a worker there said.

Venezuela’s largest airport, in Maiquetia ​on the coast north of Caracas, was closed ⁠due to damages, Rodriguez said.

Classes were cancelled for the rest of the week as authorities began to take stock of the damage.

Venezuela’s oil infrastructure did not immediately appear to be affected by the tremors, as almost none of the cities with official reports of severe damage include critical oil infrastructure. Civil protection authorities in Maracaibo, near the large ​oil hub of Lake Maracaibo, said there were no injuries reported.

Many energy companies with operations in the country were accounting for staff before making initial assessments on ​the condition of oilfields, plants and ⁠refineries.

One source noted that extended loss of power could hit crude output levels until the service is restored. Venezuela’s oil ministry, state-run oil company PDVSA (PDVSA.UL) and its main foreign partner, Chevron did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

TSUNAMI ALERT WITHDRAWN

The U.S. Tsunami Warning System issued a tsunami threat for Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands after the earthquake, and said hazardous waves could also affect Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire. The warning was withdrawn about an hour later.

Venezuela ⁠lies in a ​seismically active zone where the Caribbean Plate meets the South American Plate.

An estimated 30,000 people were killed when a powerful quake caused widespread ​destruction in the cities of Merida and Caracas in 1812, according to the USGS.

North Korean leader Kim Jong ‌Un said exercising the country’s position as a nuclear state is the only way to cope with an unpredictable and complicated global security situation, KCNA state news agency reported on Tuesday.

“Unimaginable, astonishing incidents and events” are occurring because of the “gangster-like” greed of hegemonic forces, making confrontations around the world more ​violent, Kim said, blaming the U.S. for worsening bloodshed in Europe and the Middle East, Reuters reported.

He was speaking at a ​Central Committee meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, running from Saturday to Monday, KCNA said.

Kim accused the U.S. ⁠and South Korea of making the security situation on the Korean Peninsula more dangerous by steadily upgrading their combined nuclear posture, ​the only purpose of which, he said, is to attack North Korea.

“To steadily expand and strengthen the nuclear forces … and to thoroughly ​exercise the position of a nuclear weapons state is the most correct and unique way to actively and confidently cope with the unpredictable international military and political situation getting complicated in multiple ways,” KCNA said.

KCNA did not elaborate on specific actions regarding the country’s nuclear arsenal that might be taken.

Kim ​also ordered the buildup of conventional weapons and accelerated construction of a 10,000-ton strategic guided missile cruiser, KCNA said.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at ​the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the comments underscore Pyongyang’s continued rejection of denuclearisation and push for recognition as a nuclear ‌state.

“North Korea ⁠is once again reaffirming that denuclearisation talks are off the table,” Yang said, adding it would only engage in negotiations “as a nuclear weapons state on an equal footing,” potentially focusing on arms reduction rather than dismantlement.

Such talks would imply acceptance of a minimum deterrent and require sanctions relief, he said, fundamentally differing from phased denuclearisation proposals, such as those raised by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ​to U.S. President Donald Trump ​at the G7.

Yang said that ⁠references in the party meeting to the U.S.-South Korea Nuclear Consultative Group, a body aimed at deterring North Korea’s nuclear threat, and Seoul’s ambitions to develop a nuclear-powered submarine were being used by ​Pyongyang to justify its nuclear buildup.

North Korea has defied a slew of sanctions imposed by both ​the United Nations ⁠and the U.S. between 2006 and 2017 banning Pyongyang from developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to deliver them. Its stance has alarmed regional powers.

It has declared itself a nuclear state and has said nothing would convince it to abandon its atomic weapons, despite years of ⁠diplomatic efforts ​by the U.S., China and South Korea.

The party meeting also highlighted a push ​to modernise the coal industry and redevelop mining communities, which Kim described as a strategic priority.

“Coal effectively remains North Korea’s main energy resource,” Yang said, noting plans ​to upgrade the industry aimed at easing chronic energy shortages.