Venezuela quakes kill 1,400 as time running out to find survivors

LA GUAIRA: Rescue crews raced Sunday to find survivors in the rubble of Venezuela’s powerful earthquakes as the death toll reached 1,430 and hopes dwindled more than three days after the earth roared and rumbled.

Tens of thousands of people were reported missing as collapsed buildings dotted cities in a country already enduring an economic crisis and political upheaval after US forces captured former president Nicolas Maduro in January.

Millions of people were also feared to lack sanitation and other basic needs.

Experts say the first 72 hours after natural disasters are the key, narrow window for finding the living. After that the search becomes one of recovering bodies.

A Salvadoran rescue worker who declined to give his name put it this way: “At this point, they are probably dead bodies. Thanks to God, maybe we can find people still alive.”

An 11-year-old boy was rescued from the rubble in Caraballeda, north of Caracas, on Saturday, three days after the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 tremors, interim leader Delcy Rodriguez said.

“Every life is a source of hope for Venezuela,” she said in a post on X, accompanied by a video of the rescue.

Facing public outrage at the response by local officials, Rodriguez thanked other countries for the outpouring of aid.

Twenty-four countries have sent 521 tonnes of supplies, 86 units with dogs trained to locate people trapped beneath the rubble and more than 2,700 search-and-rescue personnel, she said.

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher told AFP on Friday that the death toll could continue to soar, adding that more than 50,000 people were missing.

The search for survivors saw desperate attempts by local residents to claw away rubble from buildings that collapsed in Wednesday’s two quakes.

“It’s just very chaotic, hot and unorganised,” said Australian firefighter Craig Demeillon, 43, who travelled alone to La Guaira from Miami to help. “Hopefully there are more people to find.”

Newborn rescued

There was joy in the hardest-hit coastal area of La Guaira, north of Caracas, when locals pulled an infant alive out of the wreckage on Friday.

In one social media video, a man welled up in tears as he held the baby in his arms.

The UN migration agency said it had examined available population and damage data and had determined that “up to 6.76 million people could be affected” and would “require emergency shelter, safe water, sanitation and hygiene services, healthcare, protection support and essential relief items.”

National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez reported on Saturday 1,430 dead and 3,238 people injured, while the UN estimated US$6.7 billion in physical damage – equivalent to 6% of Venezuela’s GDP.

Foreign nationals confirmed dead include 28 Portuguese, nine Spaniards, seven Chinese, two Brazilians, one Chilean, one Italian-Venezuelan and one Uruguayan.

‘Permit to save lives’

Venezuelans – already battered by years of a failing economy and the turbulence of the US intervention to topple Maduro – were furious at the government.

Yessica Mendoza was forced to transport her own daughter to a mortuary in Caracas after 25-year-old Yesimar Rodriguez and her husband Jhomel Anaya, 26, did not survive the tumbling debris of their home in La Guaira on Wednesday.

“We were the ones who pulled them out ourselves. No help ever came,” the bereaved mother, 43, told AFP, adding that the couple would be cremated without a wake due to the rapidly advancing decomposition of their bodies.

The government has restricted access to La Guaira state, deployed the military to the area and required volunteers to obtain a safe-entry pass.

Anger among those impatiently waiting to volunteer surged as they waited for passes outside a concert hall in the capital.

“You need a permit to save lives – just imagine,” complained Carlos Itriago, 27.

“I’ve been here since dawn standing in line so I can go rescue people,” said Ezequiel Rivero, 53.

“Look at what time it is… how many lives have we already lost by now?”

Venezuela already in trouble

Rodriguez said she had spoken with US President Donald Trump and secretary of state Marco Rubio, who “reaffirmed their commitment to supporting the response efforts”.

The US said one runway at Simon Bolivar International Airport was partially functioning to receive US military planes, while a naval ship had arrived off the coast.

It said earlier it was sending a disaster response team of more than 250 personnel, including three special search-and-rescue units with dogs.

Venezuela’s worst earthquakes in more than a century have come after the oil-rich country endured more than a decade of economic collapse.

The crisis has hollowed out hospitals and public services, driving millions to leave the country.