CARACAS (AFP)

Powerful twin earthquakes that shook Venezuela killed at least 32 people and injured more than 700, interim president Delcy Rodriguez said on Thursday.

"At this time, we have received reports of 32 deaths" and "more than 700 injured," Rodriguez said in an address to the nation, adding she did not yet have data on the "hardest-hit region" of La Guaira, located near the capital.

Rodrizguez declared a state of emergency after the quakes caused buildings in the capital to crumble and forced the closure of the country's main airport, prompting US President Donald Trump to offer aid.

She said 20 aftershocks had followed the earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, which struck the same area of Venezuela, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The quakes triggered panic in the capital and drove people into the streets, AFP journalists saw.

"The stairs came away, the whole wall cracked. Things fell from the ceiling. It was horrible," said 54-year-old bank employee Odalis Escalona.

Trump said late Wednesday that "the two major earthquakes that just hit the great people of Venezuela are both massive in scale and have left a devastating number of deaths."

"The U.S.A. stands ready, willing, and able to help! I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly," the American president wrote on his Truth Social platform. "We will be there for our new and great friends. Early reports are not good!!!"

The first quake, with an epicentre 21 kilometres west of the coastal town of Moron, occurred at 2204 GMT, USGS said. Within a minute, a 7.5-magnitude quake struck about 45 kilometers away.

"This earthquake was the second event in a doublet. This magnitude 7.5 mainshock was preceded by 39 seconds by a 7.2 foreshock," USGS said.

The Maiquetia International Airport, located near Caracas, was closed due to "serious damage" to its infrastructure, Rodriguez said, with social media posts showing its severely damaged facilities.

The tremors struck at a depth of 22 kilometres and 10 kilometres, respectively.

The quake was felt as far away as the Colombian capital of Bogota, where alarms sounded and some residents evacuated buildings as a precaution. The Colombian disaster management agency UNGRD ruled out the possibility of a tsunami taking place in the aftermath.

The strongest tremors in earthquake-prone Venezuela's recent history occurred in the northeast in 1997, killing 73 people, and in Caracas in 1967, when 236 people died.

Shortly after the twin quakes on Wednesday, a 7.2-magnitude tremor hit northern Japan, the country's weather agency said, with no casualties or material damage reported.