Caracas, Venezuela. The death toll from Wednesday’s double earthquake in Venezuela rose to at least 235 on Thursday, with hundreds still trapped under collapsed buildings and more than 46,000 people listed as unaccounted for as rescue teams searched devastated areas around Caracas.
Officials said La Guaira state remained the hardest-hit area, while aftershocks continued to affect Caracas and surrounding coastal communities.
Rising toll and widespread damage
Health Minister Carlos Alvarado said about 235 people had been received dead at medical centres, up sharply from the 32 confirmed on Wednesday night. Jorge Rodriguez, head of Venezuela’s national assembly, said 200 people remained trapped and 250 buildings had been damaged or destroyed.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said around 70,000 families in La Guaira state had been affected.
La Guaira among worst-hit areas
La Guaira, the coastal state adjoining Caracas and home to the capital’s main airport, remained the most severely affected area. The airport was closed after sustaining damage.
Electricity was scarce across parts of the state, and at least eight hospitals, the headquarters of the Venezuelan Red Cross and the French embassy were reported badly damaged.
Rescue operations continue
Acting President Delcy Rodriguez said the government was working with private companies to bring in heavy equipment to accelerate rescue efforts. “It has become a disaster zone,” she said.
Emergency workers and volunteers searched through collapsed buildings through the night and into Thursday. In some areas, residents said official help had been slow to arrive. In La Guaira city, volunteers dug through wreckage by hand as families waited for news of missing relatives.
Yamileth Jimenez, a resident of La Guaira city, said her 19-year-old son remained trapped in the debris of their seven-storey apartment building. “He’s under the slabs and there’s no machinery to get him out,” she said.
Missing persons and verification
A website created to track missing people and shared by opposition leaders listed more than 46,000 people as unaccounted for on Thursday evening, up from 6,600 the previous night. Reuters said it could not independently verify the figures.
International assistance expands
The international response widened on Thursday. Washington eased sanctions to authorise transactions related to earthquake aid that would otherwise be prohibited.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would send rescue teams, while the Pentagon would assist with logistics and support for Caracas’ damaged airport. UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said the organisation was coordinating international rescue teams and that a massive collective effort would be needed in a country where eight million people had required humanitarian assistance before the earthquake.
SpaceX said it would provide free Starlink service through July 25 for customers in affected areas and was working to deploy terminals to the hardest-hit zones.
Oil operations largely unaffected
Oil infrastructure appeared to have been largely spared, with foreign energy companies saying their operations had not suffered major disruption.