Desperation Mounts In Venezuela As Earthquake Death Toll Rises To 1,430

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — Tensions flared Saturday as desperation grew among suffering residents of Venezuela’s La Guaira state, where rescuers and civilians searched for earthquake survivors as the death toll rose sharply.

The Venezuelan government said Saturday morning that the number of people killed had risen to 1,430, and families reported at least 68,900 people missing three days after the incident. One-two punch earthquake of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 This devastated the South American nation.

Venezuelans are searching for loved ones and neighbors In La Guaira, one of the country’s worst-hit provinces, shovels, heavy equipment, ropes and bare hands were used to topple concrete piles.

Most of the excavators were civilians who took the search into their own hands, and tensions came to a head over the inadequate response of the Venezuelan government, whose soldiers, firefighters, police and cadets were clearly unprepared to respond to the tragedy.

Disappointment was compounded by the state’s efforts to project an image of a strong state response.

Mileidy Romero, who was among those searching the rubble of the coastal town of Caraballeada, said: “There are a pile of bodies there from last night. Newborn babies. Look what time it is and they still haven’t come to pick them up. At 8 p.m. there were live people down there and they didn’t even bother to save them. We found a few bodies and they didn’t help us save them either.” “What are they waiting for?”

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.

But about 72 hours after the earthquake, a growing number of international rescue teams joined life-saving efforts.

More than 14,000 soldiers and police patrol the area, where access is now blocked and special permits are required for entry, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said on state television on Saturday. More rescue teams sent by governments around the world arrived in Venezuela on Saturday.

Simón Bolívar International Airport, which serves Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, was severely damaged in the earthquake. A runway became operational on Saturday as U.S. teams worked to repair the critical pass, Jeremy Lewin, a senior State Department official in charge of foreign aid, told reporters.

In La Guaira province, just north of Caracas, Nazareth Jiménez sobbed on the shoulder of a loved one Friday as she watched neighbors using hammers and power tools try to cut concrete slabs from a building that had become a mountain of debris. He became anxious as he waited to see if his siblings, nieces, nephews, and friends would make it out alive.

“God, how do we get them out of there?” Jiménez muttered.

“We appeal for help to the government and countries around the world,” he said, pleading for machines that could move the collapsed structures. “There are people still alive there.”

Government forces distributed food and water to survivors in La Guaira, and Rodríguez said his government made a full response “in these critical hours to save people alive.”

Disaster poses a major challenge for Türkiye RodríguezThe former vice president, who took office in January after the then-President was captured and removed from office. Nicolas Maduro by the United States. facing venezuela economic turmoil for over a decade and many deny its legitimacy Political movement represented by Rodríguez.

The death toll was expected to increase tens of thousands reported missing in independent digital databases. These figures likely included people unable to communicate due to lack of cell phone signal, and some reports may be duplicated.

As of noon Friday, the number of injured was over 3,300, and authorities said they had rescued 243 people.

Search teams and foreign aid from Mexico, the United States, Brazil, El Salvador, France, El Salvador and more countries continued to arrive in Venezuela Saturday morning to support rescue efforts.

Lewin, the State Department official, said the U.S. military would help coordinate flights to bring search and rescue workers, mobile hospitals and supplies. He said two 80-person search teams were at work and a U.S. Navy transport ship had docked off the coast of Venezuela, ready to pick up airlifted survivors in need of medical attention. Finding people injured in the earthquake was a “race against time”, Lewin said.

“People are trapped under rubble and the priority is to get search and rescue teams, healthcare professionals and others to them as quickly as possible to save lives,” he said.

The International Organization for Migration said as many as 6.76 million people could be affected, including 2 million in Caracas alone. Experts said the destruction was further increased by successive shallow earthquakes.

“People are still afraid to re-enter their homes,” said Loyce Pace, regional director for the Americas for the International Red Cross.

Actually, many continued to sleep on the street.

Omar Reyes said about 20 family members died.

“I am alone in this life,” Reyes said as he walked among the ruins where his two children were buried.

In the city of Maiquetia, people lined up in front of shops and pharmacies that served them behind closed doors. At one point, a woman in the crowd threw herself to the ground, desperately shielding a pack of diapers with her body.

Traffic and the density of motorcyclists occasionally disrupted the search efforts. Mexican soldiers and volunteers repeatedly asked for silence to hear signs of life under the rubble, but civilians and uniformed cyclists continued to honk their horns and rev their engines to the frustration of first responders.

Some people began carrying essentials such as toilet paper and food from stores in Catia La Mar, adjacent to the country’s main airport. Others surrounded a civilian pickup truck delivering bread and water until a soldier intervened. A pharmacy parking lot turned into a makeshift shelter with awnings, hammocks and tents.

A few miles (kilometers) away, 28-year-old Yuleidy Cadenas stood across from a collapsed public housing building, hoping that her son, mother and brother would be rescued alive.

On Wednesday, she ran barefoot from another collapsed building and saw her mother’s 12-story apartment tower collapse.

“I climbed on top of the debris and told them to scream, but neither my brother, nor my son, nor my mother did so,” Cadenas said.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press journalists Clara Preve in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Ali Swenson in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.