The shaking sent residents running from their homes into a rainstorm that eventually produced severe weather.
While there were no reports of significant damage or injuries due to the quake, torrential rains and high winds damaged several transmission towers, knocking out power to some sections of Caracas not long after the shaking ended.
Monday’s quake was initially said to have been centered only 9 miles (14 kilometres) south of Caracas beneath the suburb of Los Teques, according to the Venezuelan Seismology Research Foundation.
But the U.S. Geological Survey later said it determined the 5.3 magnitude shaking was actually centered 25 miles (40 km) south of the capital at a depth of 6 miles (10 km).
The initial quake and three smaller aftershocks were felt in several of Venezuela’s most populated states near the Caribbean coast.