La Guaira, Venezuela. The provisional death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela on 24 June has risen to 2,954, according to an official report released on Saturday. International search and rescue teams are meanwhile gradually reducing operations as efforts to find survivors continue.
Damage and displacement
La Guaira, about 40 kilometres from Caracas, suffered the most severe damage from the seismic activity, which flattened dozens of buildings. Thousands of displaced residents remain without homes, sleeping in the streets or seeking temporary shelter in parks.
The Ministry of Communication in Caracas said 16,592 people were injured in the earthquakes. It added that more than 16,000 people have been left homeless, while at least 856 buildings were totally destroyed or severely damaged.
Rescue operations continue
The two earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, struck northern Venezuela 39 seconds apart. In La Guaira, the presence of foreign search teams has visibly diminished as units from the United States, Chile and other countries prepare to leave.
Members of fire departments from Los Angeles County, as well as teams from Florida and Virginia, confirmed to AFP that they were departing the country. Rescue contingents from Vietnam and Mexico were also preparing to leave.
Hope for survivors
“We keep working, finding bodies — we keep going,” Francisco Saskia, a 38-year-old volunteer rescuer and interpreter, told AFP outside the collapsed Ocean Beach building in the Playa Grande district, where machinery was clearing debris.
“We still believe we will find people alive, we are not losing hope,” he added.
Experts generally consider the critical window for locating survivors to close after 72 hours. However, rescuers pulled a man alive from the rubble on Thursday, eight days after the disaster.