Venezuela death toll nears 1,000 as aid workers from L.A. and across the globe arrive
CARACAS, Venezuela — As the death toll from twin earthquakes in Venezuela approached 1,000 on Friday, aid workers from around the world arrived to search for survivors trapped in rubble and deliver desperately needed aid to a reeling country.
“Time is the enemy,” said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone. “We want to immediately start locating people who are alive and we can dig.”
In a phone interview from California, Marrone said L.A. County sent a 73-person contingent of search and rescue teams, canine units, doctors and structural experts to Venezuela.
Hundreds of humanitarian aid teams from at least 16 countries were flocking to the earthquake-affected country. The Pentagon said it would send aid by air and sea.
“U.S. Southern Command is moving quickly to bring the U.S. military’s unique airlift, logistics and lifesaving capabilities to support the Venezuelan nation during this crisis,” the command said in a statement.
About 250 soldiers, 18 rescue dogs and other aid were sent by Mexico, a country with extensive experience in earthquake relief.
“We always help in the face of tragedy,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday.
Other countries providing aid include El Salvador, Spain, Chile, Italy, France, Argentina, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
Meanwhile, the terrible list of dead and wounded was growing.
National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said the confirmed death toll rose to at least 920 on Friday and more than 3,300 people were injured. More than 1,400 structures were damaged or destroyed. Thousands of people are homeless and many are camped on the streets.
Meanwhile, the loss of hundreds of people caused a wave of sadness among relatives and friends. Venezuelans were posting names and photos of missing people on social media sites in the hope that someone would know where the missing people were.
Many of the missing are believed to be buried amid debris spread over a wide swath of the country, from the capital Caracas to the northern province of Guaira, 32 kilometers north of the capital, the hardest-hit region along the Caribbean Sea.
Satellite images of Guaira before and after reveal a striking sight: Numerous areas where tall buildings, stores, homes and other structures once stood are now littered with rubble.
Just over a quarter of a century ago, La Guaira was the site of the country’s worst recorded natural disaster: flash floods in 1999 that triggered massive landslides and debris flows, burying entire neighborhoods and towns. Estimates are that thousands of people died, but authorities never released an official death count.
Twin earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 hit the country within 39 seconds just after 6pm on Wednesday. The tremors, whose epicenter was about 100 miles west of Caracas, were the deadliest to hit Venezuela in almost a century.
Venezuelans on Friday welcomed the arrival of foreign aid workers who were seen digging through huge piles of collapsed concrete. But the outside aid also highlighted a sobering reality: the government’s inability to deal with the tragedy. The scope of the disaster quickly overwhelmed the country of 28 million people, battered by years of economic crisis and political turmoil.
Much of the initial work towards recovery was left to ordinary citizens. Throughout the earthquake zone, people without proper equipment were seen pulling victims from spikes and piles of rebar.
“The worst nightmare is knowing that the government is not prepared for this,” said Lucy Fernández, 65, a Caracas resident. “We don’t have rescue personnel. We don’t have the necessary tools. We don’t have money. We don’t have anything.”
In the critical hours following the earthquakes, Venezuela’s massive military apparatus appeared largely absent; Critics say this reflects the fragmented and chaotic state of much of the government.
“We have an armed force that has no leadership and no clear operational capacity,” said Carlos Calatrava, a political analyst at Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas. “When this happened, there was no technical operational capacity, nor was there minimal infrastructure and communications to coordinate humanitarian assistance, let alone leadership.”
The tragedy has become a major challenge for the interim government of President Delcy Rodríguez, who took office in January after U.S. special forces stormed Caracas, arrested his predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife and flew them to New York to face drug trafficking and other charges. The couple denied the allegations.
Many Venezuelans have expressed frustration with what they see as a lack of economic and political progress since Rodríguez assumed the presidency with the support of the Trump administration.
Special correspondent Mogollón reported from Caracas and Times writer McDonnell reported from Mexico City. Special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal in Mexico City contributed to this report.
