More than 50,000 missing in Venezuela quakes as death toll rises

The death toll from the Venezuela earthquakes reached 920 on Friday, National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said Friday.

More than 3,360 people are injured with at least 172 still trapped under the rubble in the aftermath of the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck in quick succession on Wednesday evening.

Families posted online images of their loved ones who have not been heard from since the earthquakes. As of Friday morning, 57,287 people had been reported missing, and there was still no contact from 49, 519 of them.

Rodríguez told CNN that the public should avoid La Guaira, the hardest-hit area. “We appreciate the overwhelming desire to help, but the roads we are using to transport the injured are becoming congested. The best way to help is to keep the roads clear so that medical teams can transport patients and rescue crews can carry out their work more effectively,” he said

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez announced the new death toll as she welcomed the arrival of rescue crews from all over the world. “We are going to rescue the people who are trapped,” she said, according to the Associated Press.

Missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones were handed out in the streets while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched, the AP reported.

Rescuers are searching for survivors in collapsed buildings in Caracas and the state of La Guaira where cries for help were audible from under debris.

Marcos Ferreira, a geophysicist and researcher at the Geological Survey of Brazil, told the AP the one-two punch of the quakes, along with the shallow seismic movements, amplified the destruction. The U.S. Geological Survey said the two earthquakes were centered near Moron on the Caribbean coast, 105 miles west of the Venezuelan capital Caracas.

Foreign nationals among dead

Foreigners are among those who have been killed although search efforts are continuing, and the full number of casualties remains to be seen.

Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares said three Spanish nationals were confirmed to have died and 99 were missing.

Brazil’s foreign ministry said that a Brazilian man and a Brazilian woman had died, while China’s embassy in Caracas said that two Chinese nationals had also been killed. The AFP News agency reported that nine Portuguese nationals had died.

US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) has said that Major General Kevin Jarrard had arrived in Caracas to oversee the Department of Defense’s relief effort which it said would include rapid, life-saving movement of response personnel, equipment, and humanitarian assistance into affected areas.

However, Venezuelan doctor, Pedro Javier Fernandez, a member of the medical group Medicos Unidos Venezuela, told the BBC the country’s economic and humanitarian circumstances before the earthquakes make any relief effort difficult.

“Venezuela is in the context of a humanitarian, complex emergency,” he said, “all our hospitals lack supplies, lack medicines, we are not able to provide medical attention to our people in a normal day.”

Another doctor, Franklin Rodriguez, who travelled to the region of La Guaira told the BBC Radio 4’s that the two main hospitals in the state were “completely overwhelmed”.

“There is a critical lack of medicine and medical supplies,” he said, “medical facilities do not have the capacity to handle the massive volume of people.”

Foreign help arrives

Venezuela’s acting president Rodriguez said “we are working tirelessly” on trying to rescue survivors trapped beneath the rubble and emergency teams were being deployed from other parts of the country to La Guaira.

She had earlier declared a state of emergency and said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes.

Meanwhile, the UN’s humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the BBC the disaster required a global response “and we’ll co-ordinate that and we will deliver”.

Jens Laerk, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday that 1,000 emergency responders in 25 search-and-rescue teams were being sent to Venezuela.

They include a 65-strong Dutch rescue team, a team from El Salvador as well as rescue personnel from Mexico. Venezuela’s state broadcaster said that 80 rescue workers and 18 tons of supplies had arrived from Switzerland on Friday.

Venezuelan television also showed the arrival of rescuers with dogs and equipment from Spain. Teams from Germany, Chile and Switzerland also landed, according to the AP. Turkey and China have sent assistance, with leaders from Qatar, Brazil, Portugal and Canada also pledging help.
Nicola Puchelt, a spokesperson for the International Search and Rescue Dog Organization (IRO) said that six teams of dogs and handlers were heading to Venezuela to help find survivors, and she said that the first 72 hours of an operation were crucial.

The U.S. would also provide $150m through its partners including the International Medical Corps and the World Food Program. There would also be a $100m contribution to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Venezuela pooled fund.

The Trump administration has also launched a task force to coordinate assistance and get help to Americans affected. Military assets, including fixed and rotor-wing aircraft, to support search and rescue efforts would also be on the ground. (Source: Newsweek)