Race To Find Venezuela Quake Survivors
Rescue workers from across the world on Friday intensified efforts to locate survivors trapped beneath collapsed buildings in Venezuela after two powerful earthquakes killed more than 900 people and injured thousands in one of the country’s deadliest natural disasters in more than a century.
Venezuelan authorities said at least 920 people have been confirmed dead, while more than 3,300 others sustained injuries after the twin earthquakes, measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, struck barely a minute apart on Wednesday night.
The second tremor is believed to be the strongest to hit the South American nation since 1900.
Emergency responders are racing against time to rescue those feared trapped beneath the rubble before the critical 72-hour “golden window” for finding survivors closes.
The worst-hit areas include the capital, Caracas, the coastal state of La Guaira and neighbouring communities, where hundreds of buildings were reduced to rubble.
Scenes of anguish unfolded across the affected areas as desperate families gathered near collapsed buildings, anxiously waiting for news of missing relatives.
Many survivors have also been forced to spend nights outdoors after their homes were destroyed or declared unsafe.
In La Guaira, rescue teams, police officers and military personnel continued searching damaged structures, while heavy machinery arrived in some of the hardest-hit locations nearly two days after the disaster to clear massive piles of debris.
Among those awaiting news was Natacha Diaz, whose two daughters are believed trapped inside the shopping complex where they worked.
“They are all I have,” she said while clutching their photograph.
Another resident, Andreina Valerio, appealed for urgent assistance to rescue her one-and-a-half-year-old son, Santiago, who remains trapped beneath the rubble alongside other members of her family.
Doctors working in the disaster zone warned that hospitals were struggling to cope with the growing number of casualties, citing severe shortages of medical supplies and equipment after years of underfunding.
The disaster has also renewed criticism of Venezuela’s emergency response system, with residents calling on authorities to allow more civilian volunteers to participate in rescue operations as thousands remain displaced.
Meanwhile, international support continued to arrive, with rescue teams from Switzerland and Mexico joining local emergency responders.
The United States military has also taken part in humanitarian rescue operations despite longstanding diplomatic tensions between Washington and Caracas.
Several countries have dispatched heavy equipment, field hospitals, medical supplies and humanitarian aid to bolster rescue and relief efforts.
Authorities cautioned that the death toll could rise significantly as search operations continue in devastated communities where many people remain missing.
The twin earthquakes rank among the deadliest natural disasters in Venezuela’s modern history, leaving the country facing an enormous humanitarian crisis as rescue efforts gradually transition to recovery and reconstruction.
