The 7.2-magnitude and 7.5-magnitude quakes hit less than a minute apart at around 18:00 local time (23:00 BST) on Wednesday, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The second was the strongest earthquake to hit the country since 1900.

The so-called doublet sequence of earthquakes is different to the typical scenario, where a larger quake is followed by much smaller aftershocks.

Both were very shallow at less than 30km below ground, potentially adding to the damage. We have seen footage of the moment the earthquake shook a BBC journalist's home in Caracas.

An earthquake occurs when two parts of the Earth suddenly move past each other which releases a lot of energy. When this energy reaches the surface it causes the ground to shake.

The closer it is to the surface, typically the more shaking and potential damage.

Read more explainer posts:

How is earthquake magnitude measured?

A brief guide to aftershocks

What is a 'doublet' earthquake?

What causes an earthquake?

Image source, SOUTHCOM

US Southern Command (Southcom), which oversees US forces activity in south America, says Major General Kevin Jarrard has arrived in Caracas to oversee the Department of Defence's support for relief efforts.

In a post on social media, it says it will help "support the rapid, life-saving movement of response personnel, equipment, and humanitarian assistance into affected areas".

The US set out more details yesterday about how it plans to support Venezuela after the earthquakes.

Graciela Mora was conscious as she was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building in La Guaira by emergency workers and volunteers.

"When the earthquake started, I clung as tightly as I could to the doorframe," she says, "so tightly that I broke my finger."

Speaking to camera moments after her rescue, and while still on a stretcher, she says she held onto the doorframe "until all the floors collapsed".

"And then I saw her hand like that and grabbed it," she says.

Watch the full clip below. Warning: it contains distressing content.

We've just reported on a doctor who has travelled from Caracas to La Guaira who describes the healthcare system there as being "completely overwhelmed" after the quakes.

Last night, another Venezuelan doctor, Pedro Javier Fernandez, a member of the medical group Medicos Unidos Venezuela, told the BBC the challenging economic and humanitarian circumstances in the country that preceded the earthquakes makes it even harder to respond.

"The problem is not only this is a natural tragedy, but we have to realise and we have to remember that Venezuela is in the context of a humanitarian, complex emergency," he says.

"All our hospitals lack supplies, lack medicines, we are not able to provide medical attention to our people in a normal day. Now with this tragedy, the emergency is even bigger and it's more difficult to face than in other countries."

Image source, Getty Images

Dr Franklin Rodriguez has travelled to the region of La Guaira - which has been badly affected by the quakes - from the capital Caracas where he usually works.

He tells Radio 4's Today programme that he and his fellow medics are facing a desperate situation.

Dr Rodriguez describes the system as being in complete collapse with the two main hospitals in the state "completely overwhelmed".

He says: "There is a critical lack of medicine and medical supplies. Medical facilities do not have the capacity to handle the massive volume of people, and many people are still trapped under the rubble."

People in Venezuela have spoken to the BBC about the intensity of the quakes that hit on Wednesday evening:

Juan, a medical student in Caracas told us he has "multiple friends from my university who are missing".

Twenty-year-old Antoan Marín, who lives in the San Agustín neighborhood in Caracas, told BBC Mundo he felt like his house was going to "split in two", and feared he might die.

Manu Quintero, a journalist in Caracus, said that "the world was moving for a long time" when the earthquakes struck, adding that the two quakes felt like "one massive long earthquake".

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Wednesday, 18:04 local time (23:04 BST): An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude strikes in the north of Venezuela

About 39 seconds later: A second earthquake with a 7.5-magnitude strikes, 28k m south-east of Yumare, a town in the Yaracuy state. This was the strongest to hit the country since 1900.

A few hours later: Footage emerges of people fleeing through the halls of Maiquetía airport as debris falls in La Guaira state, which closes shortly after. The mayor of Chacao, Gustavo Duque Saez, says 18 people had been rescued alive and more than 500 emergency workers were in Chacao trying to pull out more residents.

23:45 local time (04:45 BST): US President Donald Trump says "two major earthquakes...have left a devastating number of deaths," adding: "Early reports are not good!!!"

Thursday, around 00:50 local time (05:50 BST): Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, reports at least 32 deaths, and more than 700 injured. She says this figure does not include any figures from the state most affected by the earthquakes, La Guaira. These figures are updated through the day.

Throughout Thursday: As rescuers and the army were mobilised to clear debris. aid groups around the world scrambled to deliver help to Venezuela, with the US pledging $150m in assistance

Image source, EPA

Rescuers are searching through rubble in Venezuela in a rush to save lives after powerful earthquakes that have killed at least 235 people.

At least 4,300 people have been injured by the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes that struck on Wednesday evening local time.

In Caracas and La Guaira, people could be heard calling for help under the debris of collapsed buildings.

Jorge Rodríguez, the president of Venezuela's National Assembly, said 250 buildings had been damaged or lost, mostly in La Guaira, where the BBC verified footage of a 10-storey hotel reduced to rubble.

Buildings were also brought down in the capital, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said, with Trujillo, Yaracuy, Carabobo, Aragua and Miranda also affected.

We'll be bringing you the latest updates from our teams on the ground, so stay with us.

A massive search and rescue effort is under way in Venezuela after twin earthquakes devastated the Caracas region, killing more than 100 people and leaving many others injured or trapped under rubble.

What happened

Back-to-back earthquakes - measuring 7.2 and 7.5 - struck northern Venezuela on Wednesday night, killing at least 188 people, injuring more than 1,500, and leveling hundreds of buildings.

"We spent the night in a public square. Most of the neighbours slept in the streets," central Caracas resident Leander Pérez told the BBC. "I have friends with missing relatives."

State media channel Venezolana de Televisión says 157 people are reported missing, though the exact figure is unclear.

Search and rescue operation

Emergency workers are racing to reach people trapped beneath the rubble in Caracas and the state of La Guaira.

The next few hours prove crucial in rescuing survivors.

"I just want to know where my son is," said Dayana Delgado, a La Guaira resident.

Humanitarian crisis and international aid

The destruction could worsen living conditions for millions of Venezuelans in an "already severe" humanitarian crisis, charity Oxfam has warned.

Countries around the world have stepped in to offer financial and logistical support to the emergency response, including the UK, US, Qatar, Mexico, China and Russia.

The Trump administration is deploying military assets and a specialised teamto help search and rescue efforts and also mobilising more than $200m (£151m) in assistance.

We're now pausing our live coverage. You can read more about what is happening in Venezuela here.

A former Obama administration official tells the BBC the earthquakes will test Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodriguez's legitimacy and could "exacerbate" the country's already tenuous political stability.

Rebecca Bill Chavez, former deputy assistant defence secretary for the Western hemisphere under Obama, says if Acting President Rodriguez is able to "marshal the international support that's needed" it could work in her favour, but "it could be a real disaster for her if that doesn't happen".

Chavez added that the Trump administration's shuttering of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) - which traditionally oversees humanitarian support - will be a challenge for the US response.

"This is going to also be a real test about what the dismantling of USAID means, because there is a lot of muscle memory in USAID about how to react to these sorts of natural disasters," she said. "So that is gone."

From Miami to Mexico to Switzerland, aid from around the world is on the way for victims of the earthquakes in Venezuela.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

The satellite internet provider Starlink also announced it would offer free service for the next month.

A non-profit rescue group helping evacuate Americans from Venezuela has described a "dangerous and complicated" situation in the areas hit by the twin earthquakes.

One of the biggest challenges to helping people in the country is communications, Bryan Stern, founder of Grey Bull Rescue based in Florida, told the BBC. We've been hearing about telecommunications problems since the earthquakes struck on Wednesday evening.

"Lots of people are hurt and in need, and they literally can't even ask for help," he said. "The people on the ground need everything. They need clothes. They need comms. They need places to live."

Stern's group is also working with other organisations to deliver supplies and is "bringing a full comms package" to the region, but he said his group needs "financial resources" to continue helping with the response.

Spain's World Cup team held a minute of silence at training to honour the victims of Wednesday's earthquakes.

Venezuela is not competing in the Fifa World Cup but many had gathered in the country to watch matches when the twin earthquakes struck.

Besides the players, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has sent a solidarity message to Venezuela.

"Spain is prepared to help," he says in a message before announcing rescue teams are being dispatched to the country.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Video shows collapsed tower block in Playa Grandepublished at 23:56 BST 25 June

23:56 BST 25 June

By Tam Patachako and Daniele Palumbo

We have verified a video showing a 13-storey tower block which has entirely collapsed in Playa Grande, a coastal area in La Guaira state near Venezuela’s main international airport.

The clip, recorded from a nearby high-rise building, makes clear the scale of the destruction in the area following yesterday’s two earthquakes.

The person filming pans across an enormous pile of rubble where the levelled structure once stood to reveal huge cracks and holes in the building the video is recorded from.

The damage visible in the footage is so great you can’t immediately tell what once stood there, but we were able to confirm through satellite imagery it was once a multi-storey block of flats.

Image source, Rex Features

"It’s an enormous catastrophe," says Stine Paus, Latin America Region Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) about the aftermath of the earthquakes.

And it comes after years of Venezuelans depending on humanitarian aid due to the country's long economic crisis.

"There are huge needs for international support," she says.

Several UN agencies and the NRC are already present in the country, she says, "doing assessments and waiting for more support to come in."

As to how agencies can help, she says they can "support with shelter which is much needed, water and sanitation, and make sure infectious diseases are not spreading.

"We think there are lots of children in need of psychological support that organisations can help with," Paus says.

Image source, Reuters

Residents living in the Venezuelan capital Caracas found themselves trapped in locations such as the 18th floor of their tower block or the fourth floor of a car park basement when the earthquake struck.

Jesus Armas had been at home with his father, who is a cancer patient, and his mother 18 storeys up when a large building opposite began "moving from one side to another".

"We were just trapped inside the building," he tells the BBC's World Service, explaining: "There were buildings collapsing everywhere in Caracas."

Armas' father was unable to walk down the stairs and the lift was not working as there was no power - meaning the family had to wait to get out to safety.

Meanwhile, Alirio Hernandez was four storeys underground in a basement car park when the pillars of the building began to shake.

When he eventually managed to drive out, nearby security guards explained there were cracks in the building and tiles had dropped off.

The Trump administration has announced further details about the rapid response resources it is sending to Venezuela.

The Department of State is deploying a regional Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) that includes two specialised urban search and rescue teams focused on locating and reaching survivors.

Additionally, the US is mobilising $150m (£113.6m) in assistance to Venezuela through its partners including the International Medical Corps and the World Food Programme, as well as a $100m contribution to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Venezuela pooled fund.

The administration has also launched a task force based out of Washington to coordinate assistance and get help to Americans affected by the earthquakes.

The defence department is also deploying military assets, including fixed and rotor-wing aircraft, to support search and rescue efforts.

"Our mission is clear: save lives and rapidly deliver critical aid where it is most needed," Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says in a statement. "The United States is committed to our hemisphere. When the lives of our friends are on the line, America moves."

Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has met with the army's general staff to coordinate urgent relief measures for La Guaira state, the area worst hit by the earthquakes.

They will mobilise state security forces as well as heavy machinery to remove large amount of debris.

They also agreed to open priority routes for rescue efforts, and organise support logistics for water, food, blankets, and mattresses for people who lost their homes.