The death toll from Venezuela’s twin earthquakes has risen to 1,430, with more than 3,200 injured and over 50,000 people missing, as rescue crews raced against time on Saturday to find survivors days after the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes struck the nation.Experts say the first 72 hours after natural disasters are the key window for finding the living. That window has now closed. The search for survivors has become a search for bodies.In La Guaira, the hardest-hit coastal state north of Caracas, the air reeks of death. Sirens wail as ambulances and rescue vehicles race through the streets. Dust coats the communities. In punishing heat, more people wear masks as the stench of decomposition spreads.
Stories of those who survived
A mother was forced to transport her own daughter’s body to a morgue in Caracas. Her daughter, and son-in-law, did not survive the tumbling debris of their home in La Guaira on Wednesday.“We were the ones who pulled them out ourselves. No help ever came,” she told AFP. The couple would be cremated without a wake due to the rapidly advancing decomposition of their bodies.Frustration is mounting over what many see as an inadequate government response. Soldiers, firefighters, police and military cadets appear underprepared for the scope of the tragedy.
People looking at wall of missing posters
“There’s a pile of bodies over there from last night. Newborn babies,” said Mileidy Romero, who was among those searching in the seaside town of Caraballeada. “At 8 p.m. there were people alive down there, and they haven’t bothered to rescue them. We’ve located several bodies, and they haven’t helped us recover them either. What are they waiting for?”At the site of one collapsed building, people blocked an excavator from leaving and pulled the operator from its cabin shortly after state workers took selfies in front of flattened buildings and left without helping.“They came to eat arepas and take pictures to make it look like they were working,” said Yeison Marcano, who had been searching for three days. “They didn’t even get their uniforms dirty like we have.”
Photos show rescue efforts across earthquake-ravaged Venezuela
The government has restricted access to La Guaira and made it obligatory for volunteers to obtain a safe-entry pass. Anger surged among those waiting in line outside a concert hall in Caracas.“You need a permit to save lives — just imagine,” complained Carlos Itriago, 27.“I’ve been here since dawn standing in line so I can go rescue people,” said Ezequiel Rivero, 53. “Look at what time it is… how many lives have we already lost by now?”In the Chacao neighbourhood of Caracas, Acting President Delcy Rodriguez took a tour and was met with residents’ fury for trying to campaign in the middle of a tragedy.Musician Zaira Castro put it more bluntly: “It’s actually us, the Venezuelans, who are helping each other. We live in a society that has grown into helping each other. We don’t depend on the government — that doesn’t exist for us anymore.”People who survived are forced to brave the outside, buildings are no longer stable or safe for residents to go back in.
A wife’s vigil
Barbara Palacios heard her husband’s voice from beneath the rubble. “Jonathan!” she screamed, jumping with joy, looking up to the sky and thanking God.That was Friday, by Saturday, the rescue crews could no longer hear him. Palacios refused to believe he was dead.“It all came crashing down. He tried to get out but did not have a chance.” She told AFP.
Aftermath of earthquakes in La Guaira
“I am not leaving until they pull my husband out,” she said.Despite tremendous efforts, Palacio’s husband was not alive when they finally pulled him out of the rubble.
International aid arrives
Twenty-one countries are sending search-and-rescue teams. The US has deployed more than 250 personnel, including three special search-and-rescue units with dogs trained to locate people trapped beneath the rubble. Simón Bolívar International Airport, which serves Caracas, was badly damaged but one runway is operational.UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said more than 50,000 people were missing. The UN migration agency estimated up to 6.76 million people could be affected. The UN estimated $6.7 billion in physical damage, equivalent to six percent of Venezuela’s GDP.On Friday, there was a moment of joy when locals pulled an infant alive out of the wreckage, some 32 hours after the tremors. But for every such moment, there are countless others like Barbara Palacios, a wife who stood vigil for days, only to learn her husband did not survive.