CARACAS — Rescuers worked through the night on June 26 to free hundreds of Venezuelans trapped in rubble and to search for thousands more missing after two of the largest earthquakes in Latin America’s recent history struck areas in and around the capital.
The government said 235 bodies had been taken to medical centres but did not provide a full casualty total following the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude tremors that hit roughly 160 km west of Caracas on June 24.
A website set up to track missing persons and circulated by opposition leaders listed 49,500 people as unaccounted for, while the US Geological Survey estimated more than 10,000 deaths.
Spain’s foreign ministry confirmed two Spanish nationals were dead and said about 80 others were unaccounted for.
As foreign rescue teams arrived, firefighters, soldiers and desperate residents combed through collapsed buildings, sometimes working with bare hands and torches where power outages had cut electricity. “He’s under the slabs and there’s no machinery to get him out,” said Yamileth Jimenez, whose 19-year-old son remains trapped beneath debris from their seven-storey apartment block in La Guaira, a coastal city just outside Caracas.
The quakes have left thousands homeless in a country already weakened by decades of economic and political crisis, a situation that has impoverished many, prompted millions to leave, and degraded basic infrastructure and public services. Large numbers of people live in precarious hillside slums known as barrios. “My building is uninhabitable and now I have nothing. It’s just me and my son, and I have no family in the country,” said 50-year-old Suhayl Sarquiz, who recently lost her job.
The government confirmed that 250 buildings – including those housing the Venezuelan Red Cross and the French embassy – were damaged or destroyed. At least eight hospitals were reported badly damaged.
La Guaira, the coastal state adjoining Caracas and home to the nation’s main airport, was among the hardest-hit areas. Streams of volunteers headed down the Caracas-La Guaira highway with food, water and medicine.
“We lost everything,” said Pedro Perez, 64, an upholstery workshop owner who said he lost both his home and business, and was sleeping on the street with his wife and children. “We hope help arrives quickly.”
Near the epicentre in Moron, a seaside town in Carabobo state, houses crumpled and residents had no water or electricity. Families salvaged what they could, including mattresses, television sets and washing machines.
Members of a “colectivo” – government-allied motorcycle groups long accused of harassing opposition supporters – were seen assisting rescue efforts.
Nations around the world pledged support, even some that have opposed Venezuela during decades of international isolation, political repression and economic deterioration under the ruling Socialist Party.