Caracas, Venezuela. Frustration rose across Venezuela over a lack of government help in areas struck by twin earthquakes five days earlier, as rescue efforts yielded fewer survivors and the death toll surpassed 1,700 on Monday. Officials said about 5,000 people were injured.
Damage and casualties
Among the dead are believed to be as many as 140 people deported from the United States, including children, who had been staying at a hotel that collapsed in Wednesday’s back-to-back 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes.
On the fifth day of rescue operations, government figures showed nearly 200 buildings were completely flattened and several hundred others were severely damaged. Experts said the rising number of casualties was likely worsened by decades of neglect, weak enforcement of building codes and poor licensing practices under former leaders Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro.
Residents report little official presence
In El Junquito, a mountainous region about 33 km west of Caracas that is a common weekend destination, residents said they had seen few public officials and that farmers and other locals had been supplying basic necessities.
“We are waiting for answers, for debris to be cleaned up, for inspections,” said Keily Ibarra, a 33-year-old manicurist who has been leading complaints from residents to the authorities. She called on the government to do “what needs to be done.”
El Junquito’s commercial center was largely destroyed, with collapsed buildings visible during a Reuters visit. Several residents who had nowhere else to go set up tents in an open field despite the danger from nearby damaged and collapsed structures.
“We don’t know where we are going to be located or how long we are going to be here,” said Tony Abreu, the owner of a local candy store who has been living in a tent since the quakes because his home and business are unsafe.
Political tensions over recovery
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the Venezuelan government had blocked her entry from Panama but that she would seek a way to return to help those affected.
Machado had been seen as a credible opponent to Maduro, but the Trump administration’s removal of Maduro in January led to Vice President Delcy Rodriguez taking power with Washington’s backing. Trump’s administration has asked Machado to delay her return.
“At this moment, I am willing to do whatever it takes, speak to whoever I need to speak to, in order to coordinate and serve our people,” Machado said in a video posted on X.