Venezuela entered its third day after twin earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 struck the country, with authorities saying the window to find survivors was running out even as people dug through rubble of collapsed homes and apartment buildings. The quakes hit Wednesday, and authorities said the human toll had climbed to at least 920 dead, more than 51,000 missing and more than 3,300 injured as of midday Friday. Authorities also said they had rescued 243 people.
Who Is Left to Search
Venezuelans took the search for missing loved ones into their own hands, citing a scarcity of government rescuers. People reported seeing few state rescue teams in the hardest-hit areas, despite authorities projecting a robust government response. Aid agencies consider the first 48 to 72 hours a crucial time frame to retrieve people alive, though that can be extended if they have access to food and water. In the wreckage, ordinary people became the only immediate rescue force visible, while the official apparatus arrived wrapped in promises and patrols.
In La Guaira, just north of Caracas, Nazareth Jiménez sobbed into a loved one’s shoulder as neighbors used hammers and power tools to try to cut through slabs of concrete in a building reduced to a mountain of debris. She said she was waiting to see if her siblings, nephews, nieces and friends would emerge alive. “My God, how are we going to get them out of there?” Jiménez said. “We’re making a call for help to the government and countries across the world,” she said, pleading for machinery capable of moving collapsed structures. “There are still people alive in there.”
Omar Reyes said around 20 family members died. “I’ve been left alone in this life,” Reyes said, walking through the rubble where two of his children were buried. In another part of the disaster zone, Yuleidy Cadenas, 28, stood across the street from a collapsed public housing building, hoping her son, mother and brother would be pulled out alive. She fled barefoot from another building as it collapsed Wednesday and found her mother’s 12-floor apartment tower had pancaked. “I got on top of the rubble and told them to yell back, and nobody did, not my brother, nor my son or my mother,” Cadenas said.
What the Authorities Call Order
Authorities announced Friday night that they would block access to La Guaira, the epicenter of the destruction, because chaos and traffic were hampering search efforts. Anyone who wants to enter must now seek official permits, though officials gave few details about who would be allowed in. More than 14,000 members of the military and police were patrolling the area, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said on state television Saturday.
That same state machinery was also distributing food and water to survivors in La Guaira, while Rodríguez said her government was mounting a full response during these “critical hours for rescuing people alive.” The disaster posed a challenge for Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the capture and removal of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the United States. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents.
Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, said, “Each person saved is a miracle,” and, “We are not going to hide absolutely anything about the magnitude of this tragedy.” The words landed against a backdrop of missing people, blocked roads, and a rescue effort that many residents said they had to build themselves with their own hands.
Rubble, Rationing, and the People Below
In Maiquetia, people lined up outside stores and pharmacies that served them one by one behind closed doors. At one point, a woman in a crowd threw herself to the ground to protect a package of diapers with her body. Traffic and throngs of motorcyclists at times disrupted search efforts. Mexican soldiers and volunteers repeatedly asked for silence to try to hear signs of life under the rubble, but bikers, civilian and uniformed, continued to honk horns and rev engines to the first responders’ frustration.
Some people began to carry off basic goods such as toilet paper and food from stores in Catia La Mar, adjacent to the country’s main airport. Others swarmed a civilian pickup truck that was giving out bread and water, until a soldier intervened. The parking lot of a pharmacy turned into a makeshift shelter with tarps, hammocks and tents. Loyce Pace, the International Red Cross’ regional director for the Americas, said, “people are still terrified to reenter what were their homes.” Many continued to sleep on the street.
The International Organization for Migration said up to 6.76 million people could be affected, including some 2 million in Caracas alone. The destruction was amplified by the quick succession of shallow quakes, experts said. The number of dead was expected to climb, and people reported tens of thousands of missing on independent digital databases. Those figures likely included people who had been incommunicado because of the lack of cellphone signals, and some reports may have been duplicates.
Venezuelan authorities said Friday that 861 volunteers from Mexico, the U.S., El Salvador, Switzerland, Colombia and beyond were in the country, and more were coming from elsewhere. Acting President Rodríguez said she spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday and they reaffirmed their commitment to send rescue teams and aid equipment.