- Tens of thousands of people are still missing in areas affected by the earthquake.
- Rescuers pull 33 survivors from collapsed buildings.
- International aid arrives with equipment, dogs and rescuers.
A man and his teenage son were found alive under rubble in Venezuela on Sunday, four days after two powerful earthquakes shook the country, as the death toll rose to 1,450 and hopes of rescue dwindled.
AFP Journalists saw French and American rescue teams lower the son and his father from a mountain of debris on stretchers, both visibly exhausted and in shock, in the devastated coastal town of Caraballeda, about 40 kilometers north of Caracas.
Tens of thousands of people are still missing, in a South American country already mired in an economic crisis and a political vacuum after the capture of former President Nicolas Maduro by US forces in January.
There were fears that millions more people would lack sanitation and other basic needs after one of Latin America’s most devastating earthquakes.
Rescue teams from the United States, Mexico and elsewhere rushed to save people as desperate residents dug by hand to find loved ones trapped in the pancake layers and rubble of collapsed apartments.
Some 774 buildings were seriously damaged in the consecutive earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 that struck Wednesday evening, including 189 buildings that completely collapsed, National Assembly Speaker Jorge Rodriguez said on Sunday.
In one of the worst-hit areas, the coastal town of La Guaira, Hector Aguilera came to search for four members of his family buried under the rubble. Two other relatives were rescued.
“We don’t have the support to get our family out, we can’t do it alone. They are buried there: we know they are dead, but here we are,” he said.
“We have no hope left; I only have memories.”
Experts say the first 72 hours after a natural disaster – a period now over in Venezuela – is the narrow window for finding survivors. After that, the search usually involves recovering the bodies.
In the San Bernardino neighborhood of Caracas, volunteer rescuers scaled a collapsed building, using drills to break up the concrete and forming lines to remove the rubble by hand.
In Chacao, another district of the capital, large electronic screens installed in a building usually used for advertising showed the faces of missing people to help find them.
On Sunday, Rodriguez reported 1,450 deaths – a toll that is expected to rise – and 3,150 injured.
“Source of hope”
Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez said Saturday that rescuers had pulled 33 people from the ruins.
American helicopters flew in aid, but hope of being able to recover more people alive had faded.
A Salvadoran rescuer, who declined to give his name, put it this way: “At this point, they are probably corpses. Thank God, we may be able to find people still alive.”
An 11-year-old boy was rescued from the rubble Saturday in Caraballeda, north of Caracas, Rodriguez said.
“Every life is a source of hope for Venezuela,” she said in an X post accompanied by a video of the rescue.
Facing public outrage over local authorities’ response, Rodriguez thanked other countries for the influx of aid.
Twenty-four countries sent 521 tonnes of equipment, 86 units equipped with dogs trained to locate people trapped under rubble and more than 2,700 search and rescue personnel, she said.
The United States said Saturday that a runway at Simon Bolivar International Airport, which serves the capital, was partially functioning to receive American military planes, while a military ship had arrived off the coast. The United States also sent a 250-strong disaster response team.
Economic impact
The United Nations migration agency said that, based on population and damage data, up to 6.76 million people could be affected and would need shelter, water, sanitation, health care and basic necessities.
Venezuela’s worst earthquakes in more than a century come after the oil-rich country endured more than a decade of economic collapse.
The crisis has emptied hospitals and public services, pushing millions of people to leave the country.
The United Nations estimated the material damage caused by Wednesday’s earthquakes at $6.7 billion, the equivalent of 6% of Venezuela’s GDP.
The government restricted access to La Guaira state, deployed the military to the region and required volunteers to obtain a pass to enter safely.
Anger among those anxiously waiting to volunteer erupted as they waited for passes outside a concert hall in Caracas.
“You need a permit to save lives, imagine,” complains Carlos Itriago, 27.
