Jorge Rodríguez 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. On Thursday, people were searching for loved ones there.

Juan Ortiz told the BBC one of his close friends had been confirmed dead, another was believed to be under the rubble, and around 20 people he knew who live in the coastal area were missing.

“I’m in shock and confusion, and frustrated that I can’t help,” the medical student in Caracas said.

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

Mayor Gustavo Duque of Chacao, which forms part of the greater metropolitan area of Caracas, said outside one ruined building on Thursday that 11 people had died there and 23 had been rescued.

In a video update posted on social media, he said the team was trying to clear the rubble so that specialists could go in “to reach people who are hopefully still alive”.

“We’re trying to rescue as many people alive as possible,” he said.

Venezuela’s main international airport in Maiquetía on the outskirts of Caracas has been closed due to serious damage, the country’s interim president said. Video from inside the terminal showed dust and debris falling from the ceiling.

About 250km (155 miles) northwest of Caracas, another verified video showed a multi-storey building, reportedly a hotel, collapsed in Tucacas on the coast.

Aftershocks have continued to ripple through the area, with at least 30 recorded after the two earthquakes, Delcy Rodríguez told state-run television channel Venezolana de Televisión.