In the midst of the biggest earthquake to occur in Venezuela in more than a hundred years, the Brazilian government this Sunday rescued 13 Brazilians who were passing through the country.
They had contacted the Brazilian Embassy in Caracas, on an emergency basis, since the commercial airport in the Venezuelan capital was closed.
The transport was carried out using the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) aircraft that carried humanitarian aid to help the Venezuelans and would return empty to Brazil.
The relief mission mobilized a KC-390 Millennium cargo aircraft, which transported a complete field hospital structure belonging to the Brazilian Navy.
In addition to mobile medical support, the plane carried 100 water purifiers equipped with solar panels, capable of filtering up to 5 thousand liters of water per day per unit, guaranteeing supply in areas with collapsed infrastructure, according to the federal government.
The double earthquake of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 was the largest in the country since 1900. A third tremor was felt on the night of Friday, the 26th, this one measuring 4.7 magnitude.
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The death toll reached 1,4230, and 3,288 were injured, according to the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, brother of the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez. Around 50 thousand people are missing.
UN calculations estimate that the material damage caused by the tremors in Venezuela reached US$6.7 billion, equivalent to 6% of the country’s GDP.
The preliminary assessment is based on seismic models, satellite images and population data. It includes losses to assets such as real estate, but does not cover the widespread economic disruption caused by Wednesday’s disaster, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said in a statement.
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Increasingly shorter search window
The situation becomes more desperate by the hour as residents dig through the rubble of homes and buildings three days after the tremors.
Authorities announced that they would restrict access to La Guaira, the epicenter of the destruction, as chaos and traffic began to hamper search efforts. Anyone wanting to enter will now have to obtain official authorization, although few details have been released about who will be allowed through.
Faced with a shortage of government rescuers, Venezuelans began searching for missing relatives on their own. In several of the hardest-hit areas, residents reported seeing few state rescue teams, despite authorities trying to engineer a robust response.
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