Tragedy in Venezuela has already left 1,450 dead. There are 89 Portuguese people missing and 53 dead

More than 50,000 people remain missing after two major earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 and more than 20 aftershocks. More aftershocks, which could reach magnitude 5, are expected to be felt this week.

The death toll following the earthquakes that hit northern Venezuela last Wednesday rose to at least 1,450 deadsaid this Sunday the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez.

“In today’s bulletin we inform you that the death toll from the most brutal natural disaster our country has ever suffered has reached 1,450 people,” Rodríguez said in a statement broadcast on state television channel VTV, cited by Spanish news agency EFE.

Among the dead there are at least 53 Portuguese and Portuguese descendants, with 89 others missing or uncontactable — 52 men and 37 women, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among the fatalities are eight children Portuguese or Portuguese descendants.

According to the UN, more than 50 thousand people are still missing. Official figures also show 12,721 families affected in total and 774 buildings affected or collapsed.

Those occurred 200 kilometers from Caracas, less than a minute apart and were followed by more than 20 replicasaccording to the United States Geological Survey. Dozens of buildings collapsed or were seriously damaged in the capital Caracas and in the region of La Guaira, one of the most affected.

Aftershocks that can reach magnitude 5 should be felt this weekauthorities warn.

Several countries, including Portugal and other European Union states, have sent search and rescue teams to Venezuela. The base of operations for the Portuguese earthquake response mission is based in Catia la Mar, in La Guaira, an area with a large concentration of Portuguese and Portuguese descendants.