Venezuela’s Seismic History Spurs Calls for Earthquake Education

A review of recent deadly earthquakes shows that in the past year at least 25 tremors caused an estimated 9,753 deaths and $48.5 billion in losses, with Myanmar, Afghanistan and Venezuela suffering the highest fatalities. In Zulia, Venezuela, a pair of quakes on 24 June 2026 (magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5) raised the death toll in the town to more than 4,300, and U.S. seismologists warn the total could approach 10,000.

The article also lists the ten deadliest earthquakes in history, from the 1556 Shaanxi quake in China (≈830,000 deaths) to the 2011 Japan event (≈20,900 deaths), highlighting the global scale of seismic risk.

Venezuelan historians Tomás Straka and María Soledad Hernández point out that the country has experienced six major quakes over two centuries, including the 1812 Caracas doublet, the 1900 shock that destroyed 200 houses, the 1967 quake with 236 deaths, and the 1997 Cariaco tremor that killed 73. They argue that the lack of historical memory and inadequate education leave the population unprepared. Both stress that school textbooks should contain chapters on natural disasters to equip future generations with knowledge and preventive measures.