Focus Section on the 2026 Venezuela Earthquake Sequence
Read the Call for Papers in Spanish: Sección temática sobre la secuencia sísmica de Venezuela de 2026
On 24 June 2026, a pair of earthquakes of 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. The earthquake sequence caused significant deaths, casualties and infrastructure collapse, 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 Earthquake Sequence 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; 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 Forthcoming
Deadline for Submission: 21 December 2026
Articles accepted to this SRL Focus Section on the 2026 Venezuela Earthquake Sequence 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 Earthquake Sequence.”
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.