Venezuela earthquake toll hits 1,430, close to 69,000 people still missing, tension rises over ‘inadequate response’ by government as rescue teams running out of time to save lives, claim reports
Tensions came to a head in what many Venezuelans saw as an inadequate response from the government, whose soldiers, firefighters, police and cadets were clearly unprepared to respond to the scale of the tragedy. Disappointment was compounded by efforts to project the image of a strong state response.
Aid agencies believe the first 48 to 72 hours are crucial for people to be rescued alive, but this can be extended if people have access to food and water. Venezuelan officials said 17 planes carrying more than 1,600 rescue team members had landed by Saturday. As 72 hours passed after the earthquakes, many people felt that they did not have time to save people alive and that every minute was ticking away.
Tension rises during rescue efforts
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said on state television that more than 14,000 soldiers and police were patrolling the area, with access now blocked and special permits required for entry. But many people in the disaster areas said they saw little of their government.
Some people climbed the ruins of buildings and shouted names in the hope of any evidence of life. Dust-covered coastal communities. As the heat punished, more people wore masks as the smell of decay spread. Elsewhere in La Guaira, crews loaded piles of bodies, some in white bags, others naked, onto white trucks from the ground of a dirt hospital parking lot to be identified. Without hard hats or other equipment, rescuers and civilians instead wore motorcycle helmets as they searched through piles of debris that were once people’s property: Eddie Murphy and Nemo DVDs, the kitchen sink, mattresses and shoes.
Frustrated by the government response, some blocked an excavator from leaving its collapse and removed the operator from the cab shortly after government workers took selfies in front of flattened buildings and left without assistance. Ruling party officials often take selfies to show their participation in government-related events.
There were at least five bodies wrapped in blankets a few meters away.
Searches are mixed with uncertainty
The International Organization for Migration said more than 6 million people could be affected, including 2 million in the capital Caracas alone.
Experts said successive shallow earthquakes further increased the destruction. For days, smaller aftershocks occasionally rattled the capital Caracas and areas hit by Saturday’s 4.8-magnitude earthquake.
The disaster poses a major challenge for Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the United States captured and deposed then-President Nicolás Maduro. Venezuela has been facing economic turmoil for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement that Rodriguez represents.
Search parties and foreign aid continued to arrive from Mexico, the United States, Brazil, El Salvador, France and elsewhere.
On Saturday, Mexican rescuers climbed over collapsed buildings and poked their heads into holes in the flat concrete to look for signs of life, occasionally hearing movement.
