CARACAS, June 26 -- By Thursday morning, the 22-storey building that had stood for decades in Altamira was a pile of compacted concrete slabs on a Caracas street. Three blocks away, a structure known as the Petunia building had killed at least eleven people when it gave way. Somewhere beneath both, and beneath dozens more collapsed structures across the capital and the coastal state of La Guaira, rescue teams were listening for sounds.

Venezuela's health minister Carlos Alvarado confirmed Thursday that at least 235 people have been killed since the two earthquakes struck Wednesday evening. The number has climbed steadily from the 188 counted in the immediate aftermath, and the United States Geological Survey warned Thursday that the actu...