The search for survivors of the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela was growing increasingly desperate as it entered its fifth day on Monday, with hopes fading that people will be found under the rubble and residents beginning the harrowing process of identifying victims.
According to some aid groups and experts, the first 72 hours after a disaster are the most critical for finding victims alive. But emergency workers dug out more survivors on Sunday and President Delcy Rodríguez of Venezuela vowed that rescue operations would not stop.
The full picture of the scale of the destruction from Wednesday’s 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes is still emerging. The death toll has risen to 1,450 people, with more than 3,000 injured and 12,000 displaced, according to the Venezuelan government.
But the official death toll is probably a vast undercount. The United Nations coordinator in Venezuela, Gianluca Rampolla, said in an interview that the number of collapsed buildings suggested there were many more deaths. Doctors have said that in La Guaira, the worst-hit state, officials are processing about 750 bodies each day.
Dozens of people gathered outside a state-run morgue in Caracas, the capital, on Sunday searching for their missing loved ones, many of whom are believed to have been in La Guaira. Power outages, blocked roads, and the wide devastation have made it difficult for family members to contact one other, leaving many people in a state of uncertainty amid the chaotic rescue effort.
The government, which has been criticized for not doing enough to help, and President Trump, who helped bring her to power after U.S. forces seized the country’s longtime dictator, Nicolás Maduro, have been under increasing pressure to respond.
Late Sunday, Ms. Rodríguez announced that the government would establish a commission to assess the integrity of roads and bridges and whether buildings were safe to return to. A preliminary analysis of satellite images taken before and after the earthquakes compiled by U.S. universities and shared by NASA estimated that thousands of buildings were likely damaged or destroyed.
Here’s what else we are covering:
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Extraordinary rescue: As the window for finding survivors rapidly closed, rescuers on Sunday pulled an 11-year-old-boy out from under nearly 10 feet of rubble in La Guaira without injury. Read more ›
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La Guaira: Electricity had been restored to 75 percent of the state, water service to 68 percent and road access to 90 percent, Ms. Rodríguez said on Sunday. The single highway into La Guaira had been jammed in recent days by civilian aid conveys, which trapped some aid workers in traffic. Read more ›
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A desperate search: The scene on Saturday night in San Bernardino, a middle class neighborhood in Caracas, showcased both the severe shortage of heavy machinery needed to rescue survivors and the massive community mobilization that has taken place to try to fill that gap. Read more ›
