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 Two major, back-to-back earthquakes struck northern Venezuela on Wednesday, reducing buildings to rubble in the nearby capital of Caracas.

An initial earthquake at about 6 p.m. Eastern time, a 7.2-magnitude foreshock, was followed less than a minute later by a 7.5-magnitude earthquake in the same area, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The epicenters, which USGS estimated to be about 3 miles apart, were near the town of Morón on Venezuela's Caribbean coast, some 100 miles west of Caracas.

This doesn't happen very often," Earle said. "When they're right together it's hard to understand what would happen."

The strongest of the "doublet," as the USGS described the twin quakes, is the largest earthquake to strike Venezuela since 1900, when a 7.7-magnitude quake hit the country, according to USGS.

The total number of deaths and injuries is not yet clear. On Wednesday evening, USGS modeling of the 7.5-magnitude earthquake estimated deaths could be in the thousands to tens of thousands, with economic losses reaching billions to tens of billions of dollars, Earle said.