Insurance industry losses related to two major earthquakes in Venezuela this week are expected to account for only a fraction of the billions of dollars in economic losses expected to be caused by the disaster, according to a recent weekly Cat Report from brokerage Aon.
Two strike-slip earthquakes with magnitudes 7.5 and 7.2 have recently occurred in northwest Venezuela, especially in the area west of Caracas.
These seismic events caused numerous casualties and extensive structural damage.
This specific type of activity, known as a double sequence, involves two tremors of equal intensity occurring in close proximity in time and geography.
Such sequences indicate a complex rupture interaction process at the plate boundary, where the South American Plant and the eastward-moving Caribbean plate interact obliquely.
The area contains extensive strike-slip fault zones, including the Bocono, Oca-Ancon, and Bucaramanga-Santa Marta fault systems, which have caused severe earthquakes in the past.
Northern Venezuela has had several large and damaging earthquakes in its history, but areas within 250 kilometers (155 miles) of recent epicenters have experienced only seven quakes above 6.0 in the last century.
The report states that the earthquake that occurred on June 24, 2026 is likely to be the worst earthquake in Venezuela since 1812, when a major earthquake killed about 26,000 people.
Preliminary figures for the disaster reportedly include at least 235 deaths, more than 4,300 injuries, and severe damage to buildings and infrastructure.
USGS pager estimates suggest the death toll may be much higher, perhaps in the thousands or even tens of thousands.
In addition, various tracking organizations currently list between 11,000 and 46,000 missing persons.
“Given the reported losses, this event is expected to cause significant economic damage to an already strained economy, potentially reaching billions of dollars or more. Damage assessments are ongoing and are expected to continue to change as further information becomes available.”
“Substantial uncertainty remains in assessing the impact of this event on the reinsurance industry. Due to low insurance penetration, the absence of a mandatory insurance program and the likely lack of events of similar size and scale in recent memory, the industry’s total losses are likely to be a fraction of the multi-billion dollar economic losses,” Aon said.
