The Venezuela earthquakes were caused by movement along shallow strike-slip faults near a plate boundary, in a region where several faults intersect. Scientists say the sequence may have involved two separate faults, which helps explain why the quakes came back-to-back so quickly.

What that means

  • A strike-slip fault is where two blocks of crust slide past each other horizontally.
  • The quakes were shallow, which tends to make shaking stronger at the surface.
  • The area’s geology is complex, so there is not one single obvious fault that explains everything yet.

Why it felt so severe

  • The earthquakes hit less than a minute apart, adding to the chaos and damage.
  • Reports say many buildings collapsed, especially in northern Venezuela and around La Guaira.
  • Officials and scientists are still refining the exact fault rupture details, so the final explanation may become more specific as more data is analyzed.

In one line

The simplest answer is: tectonic plates in a fault-rich region suddenly shifted, producing two shallow, powerful quakes close together.