In a nightmarish race against time, rescue teams in , trying to locate survivors under the tons of rubble left behind by the two most powerful earthquakes to hit the country.
Although the critical 72-hour milestone was reached on Saturday night, occasional rescues of people kept alive in the rubble offer a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak reality, as tens of thousands of civilians remain unaccounted for. The official
The situation is dramatically worsened by the fact that the country has been mired in a deep political and economic crisis for years, lacking basic infrastructure.
“Keeping Hope”
“Rescue and retrieval efforts are ongoing. Today we recovered people alive and therefore operations are not suspended. We always keep hope,” the country’s interim President, Delsy Rodriguez, said on Sunday. Rodriguez, who took office after her predecessor was ousted by a US raid in January, announced the creation of a special presidential commission to check the structural fitness of the buildings.
At the same time, he announced that schools will remain closed for another week, while the electricity network in La Guaira has been restored by 75%. However, the management of the crisis is causing reactions. Although the government initially thanked citizens for the spontaneous offer of help, it later blocked access to the main roads to La Guaira, claiming congestion was preventing emergency vehicles.
Residents complain of severe shortages of heavy equipment and a limited presence of the authorities, with families digging by hand for days, fearing hundreds of aftershocks. According to Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, the confirmed dead reached 1,450. In addition, 3,150 injured, 12,721 displaced, and 774 buildings have been leveled.
“We are in critical, defining hours to save lives and create camps,” he stressed.
The gap in numbers and the fear of 10,000 dead
So far, the government reports rescuing at least 33 people over the weekend. However, there is a murky landscape regarding the actual number of missing persons. While authorities speak vaguely of “hundreds”, a political opposition website puts the number of registered missing at 50,000 (down slightly from Saturday’s 55,000).
The US Geological Survey (USGS) made a shocking estimate, saying that the two tremors, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 degrees, may have killed more than 10,000 people. If the prediction comes true, it will be one of the deadliest earthquakes in Latin American history. “After 72 hours, the chance of survival drops dramatically,” warned Sebastian Eugster, head of the 80-strong Swiss rescue team, which operates in the area with eight trained dogs.
Shocking child rescues
In the wreckage, the survival stories of young children offer moments of deep emotion. American teams managed to free an infant, with the related video making the rounds on the internet. At the same time, Colombians, who came out with a broken arm and covered eyes to protect themselves from the light, having lost his mother and sister.
A short time later, Mexican rescuers recovered another 11-year-old boy alive in the town of Carambaleda. Pope Leo from Rome was also placed in charge of the tragedy, expressing during his Sunday prayer his undivided support for the people of Venezuela.
Enraged residents force the military to join the rescue operation
Residents angry at the military’s passive attitude forced members of a unit deployed to an earthquake-hit area to pick up hoes and shovels and help clear debris from a collapsed property on Sunday, four days after a twin earthquake hit Venezuela, killing about 1,500 people, according to the latest official toll, which could rise exponentially. found an AFP correspondent on the spot.
“Your country needs you. Put down the guns, put down the bullets,” one man shouted indignantly, among dozens of others, addressing a military man in the Tanaguarena (Caravajeda) region of La Huaira state, which was swept away by the devastating earthquakes.
