July 30, 1967 Earthquake: Venezuela

This earthquake centered near the coast about 30 miles (about 50 km) west of Caracas. When the earth stopped shaking, about 240 people were dead and hundreds injured and buried in the rubble where homes and offices once stood. Over US$100 million [equivalent to more than $811 million in 2021 dollars¹] property damage was incurred in the Caracas area and about 80,000 people were left homeless.
Damage was extensive in the Altamira and Los Palos Grandes sections of Caracas where four major apartment buildings, 10 to 12 stories high, collapsed. Many additional structures were severely damaged and several would need to be razed and reconstructed.
Huge sections of walls fell from buildings, flattening cars below and leaving large portions of structures exposed. Rescue workers used cranes and bulldozers to search through the rubble for survivors or victims of the earthquake. A week after the shock, rescue operations continued for persons believed trapped beneath the floors of the coast resort hotel, Mansion Charaima.
Maracay, about 50 miles (about 80 km) west of Caracas, reported five deaths and 100 injuries. Several additional towns reported structural damage.

Abridged from Earthquake Information Bulletin, Volume 1, Number 7, September 1967.

¹ Based on US Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index and calculated in "Inflation Calculator", U.S. Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance (https://www.officialdata.org/), retrieved 07 Aug 2022.

30 July 1967, 00:00:04.22 UTC, 10.559N 67.33W, Mw 6.6 (reference# 10476)

An earthquake on July 29, 1967, near the coast of Venezuela about 30 miles west of Caracas, caused 240 fatalities, 1,536 injuries, and $50 million property damage. Damage was extensive in the Altamira and Los Palos Grandes sections of Caracas. Four apartment buildings, 1 to 12 stories high, collapsed and several additional structures may have to be razed and rebuilt. Unusual features of this earthquake were little damage to low buildings; no evidence of surface faulting; no landslides; and no interruption of utilities. (reference #45)

29 July 1967, 10.6N 67.3W, magnitude 6.5. The earthquake of 29 July 1967 (No. 554) caused severe losses in the region of Caracas: 240 dead and missing, 1,536 injured, very severe damage evaluated at $50 million. The loss of life was mainly due to the collapse of four large buildings of 10-12 storeys, constructed between 1962 and 1966. In fact, the earthquake was of relatively minor intensity (magnitude6.5), and of the 808 high-rise buildings in Caracas, only 161 showed signs of damage: 10 had to be demolished. It is notable that the damage to large modern buildings was more severe than that suffered by the small, poorly constructed houses in the less prosperous parts of the city. There was no superficial faulting. There was also severe damage on the coast near Caracas; several hotels were affected, more or less severely according to the nature of the foundations and subsoil. (reference #1039)

234 deaths (reference #14452)

The event has a reported magnitude of MW 6.6, causing more than 270 fatalities and 1500 injuries. (reference #12788)

29 July 1967, 300 deaths, 140 million in losses (reference #1051)

On 29 July 1967, at 8 p,m. local time, an earthquake occurred off the coast of Venezuela north of Caracas which was of moderate magnitude (m 6.1) and of intermediate focal depth (102 km) (reference #1080)

In this study we synthesize evidence based on the intensity and damage reports, the distribution of aftershocks and the results of a joint formal inversion of the P and SH waves and show that these data clearly indicate that the rupture of the 1967 earthquake occurred on an east-west trending fault system (reference #14450)

1967 July 29. magnitud 6.3 Ms.

Reference #124 points out that in the *Seismological Notes* (BSSA, 58:3, 1182, June 1968), the death toll was 240, there were 1,536 injured, and losses amounted to 50 million dollars. The reference claims these figures are an underestimate, as the figures provided by national institutions, which are: 274 dead, 2,000 injured, and damages of $100 million.