Focus Section on the 2026 Venezuela and Colombia Earthquakes
Read the Call for Papers in Spanish: Sección temática sobre los terremotos de 2026 en Venezuela y Colombia
On 24 June 2026, an earthquake doublet, M 7.2 and M 7.5, occurred in northern Venezuela, west of Caracas. The M 7.2 earthquake occurred approximately 21 kilometers east-northeast of San Felipe, Venezuela, followed 30 seconds later by the M 7.5 earthquake 17 kilometers west of Catia La Mar, Venezuela. The location, shallow depth (10 kilometers) and strike-slip mechanism are consistent with rupture along the San Sebastian fault system extending along the northern coast of Venezuela, near the plate boundary between the Caribbean and South American plates. A vigorous aftershock sequence is ongoing.
Less than a month later on 10 August 2026, a M 7.4 earthquake occurred in western Colombia five kilometers south of San José del Palmar, at a depth of approximately 110 kilometers. The earthquake originated in a region of eastward subduction of the Nazca plate beneath the South American plate. While intermediate-depth earthquakes cause less intense shaking than shallow earthquakes of the same magnitude, the 10 August earthquake led to shaking over a wide area, and triggered landslides and liquefaction.
While different in character, the two earthquake sequences caused significant deaths, casualties and infrastructure collapse in their respective countries, and recovery and restoration efforts are ongoing.
Research on these earthquakes will improve our understanding of source processes and regional tectonics and also identify methods for improved response and mitigation. The SRL Call for Papers on the 2026 Venezuela and Colombia Earthquakes invites papers on topics including but not limited to focused source studies (e.g., seismic, GNSS); geological and engineering reconnaissance; relocation and stress transfer; aftershock patterns; liquefaction; mass wasting events; intermediate-depth earthquake dynamics; impact assessment from crowdsourced data; early warning; implications for regional and local hazard; and societal impacts of the earthquakes, including lessons for enhancing earthquake resilience in vulnerable communities.
Guest Editors
- Franck Audemard, Universidad Central de Venezuela (ret.) (faudemard@gmail.com)
- Benazir Orihuela, Swiss Seismological Service, ETH Zurich (orihuela@sed.ethz.ch)
- Omar Pérez, Simon Bolivar University, Caracas, Venezuela (ojperez@usb.ve)
- Jorge G. F. Crempien, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Jocrempiend@uc.cl)
- Carlos E. Reinoza Gómez, CICESE Ensendada Mexico (reinoza@cicese.edu.mx)
- Manuel Alberto Florez, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia (maflotor@uis.edu.co)
Deadline for Submission: 21 December 2026
Articles accepted to this SRL Focus Section on the 2026 Venezuela and Colombia Earthquakes will be published online soon after acceptance and collectively in print. Papers will be reviewed as they are received and published online prior to the print issue.
In preparing manuscripts, authors must follow the SRL author guidelines at www.seismosoc.org/publications/srl-authorsinfo/. Papers must be submitted via the SRL online submission system (SRL online submission system (www.editorialmanager.com/srl/) under the category “2026 Venezuela and Colombia Earthquakes.”
Please address questions about scientific issues to SRL Editor-in-Chief Allison Bent at srleditor@seismosoc.org. Submission-related questions should be addressed to the SRL Editorial Office at srl@seismosoc.org.