Venezuela's official death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck the country on June 24 has surpassed 5,000 and could climb much higher.
New footage of the June 24th earthquake in La Guaira shows multiple buildings collapsing #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/hq1ywikhpA
— CNW (@ConflictsW) July 11, 2026Poorly constructed multifamily housing complexes, built with low-quality materials under the socialist government's mass-housing programs, collapsed "like sandcastles" when the quakes hit the coastal state of La Guaira.
The devastating earthquakes in Venezuela exposed exactly how the socialist government built housing for their people. Look at this video from La Guaira.
The buildings in the Misión Vivienda program were constructed using expanded polystyrene (EPS) panels coated with a thin layer… pic.twitter.com/N4qLX7W3Xa
The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes struck within seconds of each other, devastating Chávez-era socialist housing projects in La Guaira and reducing buildings to rubble.
As the Spanish daily newspaper ABC recently reported, "The explanation given by engineers and construction specialists is that low-quality materials were used in the Chavista Housing Mission, without supervision and without the application of anti-seismic standards."
Aerial footage shows the widespread destruction across La Guaira, Venezuela.
pic.twitter.com/KVUrstkx97
Local authorities reported 16,740 injuries and said that more than 6,400 people had been rescued from the rubble. The death toll surpassed 5,000 on Friday, while the United Nations estimates that more than 50,000 people remain missing.
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The UN estimates as many as 50,000 people may still be missing. Nearly 17,000 are wounded, and more than 21,000 are living in shelters. Recovery could cost $37 billion — while Venezuela's own funds sit frozen abroad.
On Friday, acting President Delcy Rodríguez said that Venezuela has drawn on $346 million of its own reserves at the International Monetary Fund to begin reconstruction projects in the quake-ravaged region.
"My heart is with the people of Venezuela," IMF's Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a post on X.
Supporting ongoing disaster relief efforts, the US military has shifted ships, rotary-wing aircraft, cargo planes, and amphibious landing craft to deliver vital supplies directly to damaged coastal infrastructure.
Racing the clock and clearing bottlenecks to help save lives in Venezuela:
Since mobilizing to Simón Bolívar International Airport in the aftermath of the earthquakes, the @usairforce Contingency Response Element (CRE) has been vital in accelerating the flow of critical relief… pic.twitter.com/pfIgvmFx8N
US military forces supporting Venezuela's disaster response are helping stabilize the country after the devastating quake.
Still, the deployment is notable: US troops are now positioned inside Venezuela just as US military activity around Cuba could intensify, amid rumors of a potential invasion (read here).
Tyler Durden Sat, 07/18/2026 - 11:05Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,
A total of 227,548 properties in the United States made foreclosure filings in the first six months of this year, a 21 percent increase from the same period last year, according to real estate analytics company ATTOM.
The first half foreclosure filings are also up by 28 percent from the same period two years back, ATTOM said in a July 16 report.
In states with a minimum of 500 foreclosure filings, Idaho registered the largest year-over-year increase: 59 percent. This was closely followed by Colorado with 57 percent, Georgia with 52 percent, and North Carolina with 47 percent.
Foreclosure is a legal process by which a mortgage lender repossesses a property after the borrower fails to make mortgage payments on time. Initially, the lender issues a notice of default once payments are missed for 90 days. If the borrower fails to settle the claim within 30 days, the lender can repossess the property and sell it off.
In the first half of the year, 0.16 percent of all housing units made a foreclosure filing, according to ATTOM.
Florida had the highest rate, with 0.27 percent of housing units making a filing. South Carolina was in the second spot with a 0.26 percent rate, followed by Indiana and Delaware, both with a rate of 0.25 percent.
“Foreclosure activity continued to increase in the first half of 2026, but the broader picture remains one of a market that is gradually returning to more typical patterns,” Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM, said in a statement.
Foreclosure filings in a year’s first half hit their lowest level in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but have risen since. Prior to the pandemic, first-half filing numbers were higher than the 2026 figure for every single year between 2008 and 2019.
However, the filing increase in the first half of 2026 also suggests “that some homeowners may be facing greater financial strain than they were a year ago,” Barber said.
In a June 12 post, legal services company Nolo predicted foreclosure rates would gradually rise in the latter part of 2026.
The company cited factors such as high interest rates and reduced buyer demand as contributing to a growing housing crisis. Unless there is significant relief or intervention, the trend of rising foreclosures is likely to continue, it said.
High Mortgage Rates, Avoiding ForeclosureThe average weekly rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has mostly remained above the 6 percent level since September 2022, according to data from Freddie Mac.
Since mid-May, rates have been hovering around the 6.5 percent level. For the week ending July 15, rates were at 6.55 percent.
Meanwhile, demand in the housing market has subsided, with some house hunters backing off due to high costs, real estate brokerage Redfin said in a July 16 statement.
“High mortgage rates mean that even homes in the most affordable price point—under $350,000 in the Grand Rapids area—are a stretch for a lot of buyers, and they’re hard to find and competitive,” Christine Kooiker, a Redfin Premier agent in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said in a statement.
Elevated mortgage rates can raise monthly payments for homeowners who have taken loans at variable rates. This can squeeze them financially, potentially pushing some properties into foreclosure.
For homeowners struggling to pay their monthly mortgages, there are some ways they can avoid having their properties foreclosed. One way is to refinance the mortgage, according to a Sept. 26, 2025, post by financial services company Rocket Mortgage.
Refinancing can help a homeowner shift to a more affordable monthly payment plan in case the current one is financially challenging.
Another option is to seek mortgage forbearance from the lender. If a lender approves, mortgage payments may be temporarily paused or lowered to give the homeowner enough time to get their finances back in shape.
Tyler Durden Sat, 07/18/2026 - 10:30