LA GUAIRA.- Nearly 48 hours after two powerful consecutive earthquakes shook Venezuela on Wednesday, the death toll has reached 589, with 2,980 injured, while hundreds of people remain trapped under rubble. The country’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, confirmed the new number on Friday morning; she made the announcement surrounded by officials and military officers, while welcoming rescue teams arriving from around the world.
The state of La Guaira was the hardest hit by the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes. In cities across northern Venezuela, neighbors helped each other dig through rubble to search for loved ones. The death toll is expected to rise, with thousands reported missing and frantic rescue efforts underway.
On the unofficial website Desaparecidos Terremoto Venezuela, around 50,000 people were reported unlocated as of 10 a.m. Friday, while more than 7,800 had been located. The International Organization for Migration said up to 6.76 million people in Venezuela could be affected by the quakes, about 2 million in Caracas alone.
Loyce Pace, regional director of the International Red Cross for the Americas, said «people are still terrified to go back into what were their homes.» The injured were rescued covered in dust and blood, and many were children. Venezuelan state television showed dramatic rescue images, including a woman trapped under a concrete slab, with only one bare foot sticking out, before rescuers pulled her out alive.
However, initially few government search teams were seen outside the capital, Caracas. The coastal region of La Guaira, north of the capital, suffered the most. The country’s main airport is located there, which was closed due to damage, complicating relief efforts.
Many were stunned Thursday morning to see buildings reduced to skeletons, furniture hanging from windows, and helicopters flying overhead. Many buildings were crushed, and cracks opened in the streets. Families posted flyers of missing people with photos of their loved ones, while others shared handwritten lists of names during the search. Venezuelans abroad had trouble contacting relatives due to phone service disruptions in the country.
In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots, and other open spaces. Dayana Delgado, a mother of three, wondered where the heavy machinery that government officials had promised was, and said it was residents who were digging through collapsed buildings. «I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped there or in a shelter,» she said about her 8-year-old son who was missing.
A mother cried and collapsed in grief as the bodies of her 3- and 10-year-old children were carried away wrapped in blankets. Others shouted the names of the missing. Some remained silent, in shock. Venezuelan authorities said rescue teams were being diverted from other parts of the country to La Guaira, an area no stranger to natural disasters: a mudslide killed thousands in 1999, considered one of the country’s worst natural disasters.
State media reported moments of hope amid the destruction, including the rescue of a young man carried on a stretcher from a damaged building in the San Bernardino district of Caracas, to applause from those present, while his mother, in tears, told him «Leandro, I love you.» Public television broadcast images of a girl, covered in dust and wrapped in a dark sweatshirt, emerging from the rubble with the help of rescuers. The head of the Caracas metropolitan rescue group, José Luis Núñez, explained to VTV that she was found in a 10-story building in La Guaira that «collapsed like a pancake.» «We want to highlight the strength, determination, and will to live of this girl,» Núñez said.
The natural disaster is the latest challenge for Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the capture and removal of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the United States. Venezuela has faced economic problems for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents. Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in a message to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes. On Thursday, she called on companies to make heavy construction machinery available for rescue operations. «We hope to rescue as many people alive as possible,» Rodríguez said.
The lack of cell phone signal in parts of the country worsened the anguish of many families, especially among the more than 7.7 million people who left Venezuela during its prolonged crisis and had difficulty communicating with relatives inside the country. Dozens of people turned to social media to ask for help finding their loved ones, posting photos of missing relatives and their last known location. Shortly after UN officials in Venezuela urged the government to lift restrictions on social media so people could access potentially vital information, Venezuelans in the country were able to access X. The site had been blocked by Maduro since August 2024, in an attempt to suppress information sharing among those who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential elections.
About 1,000 personnel from 25 search and rescue teams from around the world are deploying to Venezuela, said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke with Rodríguez after the quake, said Washington would deploy assistance «immediately.» «We have a whole-of-government response. It will be large, it will be fast, and it will be effective,» Rubio said, although he acknowledged that the closure of Venezuela’s main airport near Caracas posed some logistical challenges.
para mi todo culpa de los zurdos de mierda 589 muertos y 50 mil desaparejidos un desastre manejado con la patas estos inutiles no sirven ni pa pedir socorro viva la libertad carajo
Para mí esto huele a opereta yanqui, 589 muertos y 50 mil desaparecidos pero seguro que el FMI nos boicoteó los hospitales. Delcy es una heroína resistiendo al imperio, los medios corporativos la quieren voltear. ¡Arriba la revolución carajo, el pueblo no se rinde!