Caracas, Venezuela. Rescuers and residents searched for survivors on Friday after twin earthquakes devastated parts of Caracas and surrounding areas, with the death toll nearing 1,000 and frustration growing over a lack of heavy equipment.
Rescue efforts continue
Foreign rescue teams and aid began arriving nearly two days after magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck about 160 km west of Caracas.
The government said hundreds of people were still trapped and missing, in addition to 920 confirmed deaths and 3,360 injuries. A website created to collect reports of missing people listed more than 50,000 names as of Friday afternoon. The United Nations aid chief provided a similar estimate.
The U.S. Geological Survey said there was a high potential for more than 10,000 deaths, which would make the disaster one of the deadliest earthquakes in Latin America in the last century.
La Guaira among worst-hit areas
La Guaira, a coastal city near Caracas, was among the hardest-hit locations, with at least 100 buildings, including high-rise apartment blocks, collapsing.
Jennifer Palacios, 25, said the quakes struck while she had briefly left her home in the city’s eight-tower Hugo Chavez housing complex, burying her 6-year-old son and five other relatives.
“It’s the community that has managed to get people out alive,” she said while sitting in front of the rubble. “We need them to bring cranes to move the slabs. There are still people trapped.”
Damage and aid response
Reuters witnesses traveled along highways damaged by the earthquakes and saw dozens of buildings reduced to broken concrete and twisted metal. Some ruins had the names of buildings spray-painted on them to help rescuers identify locations.
The government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who took power after the United States captured her predecessor in January, pledged a major deployment of assistance. State television broadcast images of Rodriguez visiting La Guaira on Thursday.
However, assistance remained uneven on Friday. Firefighters, police, civil protection personnel and military forces were visible in some areas, while in others authorities were absent or only minimally present.
