Earthquake toll nears 1,500 in Venezuela as tens of thousands remain missing 

Posted on by Taiwo Adebulu

The lives lost from Wednesday’s double earthquakes reached 1,500 people as teams from foreign countries aided in the rescue operations in La Guaira as the hardest-hit state of the country plunged into an intense political and economic crisis, reported news agency Reuters. 

Dozens of buildings had turned into piles of rubble in this coastal state, which lies about 40 km (25 miles) north of Caracas. 

“Rescue and recovery efforts are ongoing. Today (Sunday) we have recovered people alive, and therefore, operations are not being suspended. We always maintain hope,” said Delcy ⁠Rodriguez, the interim President, after the announcement of a presidential commission which would determine the habitability of building structures. 

Supported by several of their ministers, Rodriguez stated that schools would be suspended for one more week, and the electricity supply had been restored in 75% of La Guaira. 

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The Rodriguez government had thanked all the civilian volunteers for ferrying aid to La Guaira and tightened access to the road, stating that traffic was hampering the efficient flow of emergency vehicles. 

Death toll climbs past 1,500 

President’s brother Jorge Rodriguez, who is also the president of the National Assembly, told Reuters that the death toll had increased to 1,450. As many as 3,150 people sustained injuries, and 12,721 were displaced, as 774 buildings collapsed in the quakes, he added. 

“We are in critical hours, ⁠in crucial hours to continue rescuing lives and to build camps where those people who have lost their homes, or who cannot return, for whatever reason, to their residences can stay,” Reuters quoted him as saying. 

Civilians, including families and volunteers, spent days rescuing survivors and bodies from the rubble before 2,600 foreign rescue workers arrived, who often complained of a lack of heavy equipment and limited officials’ presence. 

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The government stated that no less than 33 people had been rescued by Saturday evening, which included a few children, while tens of thousands had yet remained unaccounted for. 

A father, along with his son, was rescued alive from the rubble of a collapsed building on Sunday as rescue teams worked against the clock to search for more survivors. 

A website, run by the opposition, had about 50,000 people listed as unaccounted as of Sunday — down from about 55,000 the day before. 

Race against the 72-hour window 

“There exists a window of roughly three days, 72 ⁠hours, where the probability afterwards decreases that you can save people alive,” Reuters quoted a leader of the Swiss rescue team as saying. 

The strong team of 80 had found multiple people alive under the rubble, thanks to alerts from their 8 search dogs, but had not ⁠been able to rescue them in time to save ‌them, he stated. 

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Aid pours in as Venezuela battles crisis

The US State Department praised the US crews on Saturday for the rescue of an infant and posted a video on X of helmet-clad rescuers removing the blanket-wrapped child from rubble. 

A ‌Colombian rescue team also removed an 11-year-old boy, named Moises, who had been trapped some 10 feet deep inside rubble. His location was identified with a scanner, Reuters TV reported. 

He was moved to a stretcher with a broken arm. His eyes were covered by a cloth to prevent the shock of daylight. His mother and sister ‌had died in the quakes. 

Mexican rescuers, while working at a collapsed building structure in Caraballeda town, rescued another 11-year-old boy. A video of the operation, posted by Rodriguez on X late on Saturday, showed crews carrying the tiny figure on a stretcher out from the rubble. 

Pope Leo told worshippers who gathered for the Angelus prayer in Rome on Sunday that he wanted “to express my closeness to the Venezuelan sisters and brothers affected by the recent earthquakes”. He also expressed gratitude towards the rescue workers. 

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A senior US  official stated on Saturday that a funding package of hundreds of millions ⁠of dollars was expected to be announced within the next day or so, in addition to $150 million that the Trump administration had already committed. 

Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told media outlets that she had planned to return to the country, where she had been hiding since the 2024 presidential election, which international observers say the opposition won, until she left ‌the country in December to receive her ⁠prize. 

 (This article has been curated by Seekriti Saha, who is an intern with The Indian Express.)

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