As international rescue teams trickled into Venezuela’s hardest-hit regions, rescue workers and desperate residents searched for survivors throughout northern Venezuela on Friday, after twin earthquakes killed at least 920 people and left thousands injured.
172 were still trapped under collapsed buildings and 3,360 people were injured, authorities said. Over 50,000 people are also missing after the devastating 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude quakes that struck within a minute of each other on Wednesday evening, leaving Caracas and other coastal towns in shambles.
Along the coast, the city of La Guaira near the capital, was one of the hardest hit with apartment buildings now in a heap of concrete and bent metal. Diosdado Cabello, the Minister of Interior, said access to the disaster area had been limited since Friday night, so as to facilitate the rescue process by emergency personnel.
The Chilean rescue team that landed in La Guaira spoke of “overwhelmed” devastation. One four-tower residential complex was completely collapsed, said team leader Nadiomar Polanco, with little hope of finding survivors. There, search and rescue has become more about the collection of remains.
In impacted areas, people and volunteers still had to work with their hands and a few tools to dig through the debris, with the availability of heavy equipment and official rescue teams remaining limited.
Marjosly Salazar, whose 16-year-old daughter was killed in the incident, stated she was still looking for her five-month-old grandson and another family member. She asked for heavy machinery to help lift the concrete slabs, as no government aid has been sent to her neighbourhood.
The anger of the people was also seen when interim President Delcy Rodriguez visited one ravaged district in Caracas, where people were chanting accusations against the government’s sluggish reaction.
Rescue teams from at least 17 countries were being deployed, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Emergency response personnel from Spain, Mexico, Switzerland, Colombia and El Salvador were already on hand to aid the recovery search, and the United States said it would deploy more than 250 disaster response personnel, including teams of trained search-and-rescue dogs.
Rodriguez said she had contacted US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who promised to send more rescue workers and specialist equipment, temporary shelters and humanitarian aid.
The UN said that Venezuela’s current humanitarian issues such as food insecurity and struggling health services could be exacerbated by the disaster. The International Organization for Migration estimates that up to 7 million people could be impacted.
The US Geological Survey put the death toll at “possibly more than 10,000” and said the earthquakes could be one of the natural disasters most deadly to Latin America’s population in over 100 years. Victims are Portugal nationals, Spain nationals, Brazil nationals, China nationals, Chile nationals and Italian nationals and moments of silence were observed before World Cup matches to honour those who have died.