Rescue teams race against time after Venezuela earthquakes kill over 1,400

Search crews pulled 33 people from collapsed buildings on Saturday as the death toll from Venezuela’s earthquakes climbed above 1,400, but by Sunday hundreds of aftershocks were shaking the hardest-hit coastal state of La Guaira. Apartment blocks, hotels and public housing buildings pancaked after magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes struck in quick succession on Wednesday.

Virtual databases used by families to report missing relatives still listed thousands of names. More than 3,150 people were injured, and roughly the same number were living in shelters while damaged neighborhoods remained outside in the heat.

The critical first 48 to 72 hours after a disaster had already passed when the most desperate rescues came. A U.S. rescue team from Virginia pulled a man and his son from the ruins Sunday morning, carrying them on a black tarp to an ambulance as a crowd gathered to watch. The survivors, covered in dust, were hydrated through an IV. Among those saved over the weekend were an infant removed alive by U.S. rescuers, an 11-year-old boy found by a Colombian team about 10 feet below the surface after a scanner detected him, and another 11-year-old rescued by Mexican crews in Caraballeda.

The United Nations put the number of rescue workers from around the world at more than 2,200 by Saturday, and more were still coming. The United States deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team with more than 250 people, including three specialized urban search-and-rescue teams from Fairfax County, Virginia; Los Angeles County, California; and Miami-Dade County, Florida. Washington also mobilized $150 million in humanitarian assistance.

Pope Leo sent an initial €100,000 emergency donation and expressed gratitude for the rescue workers as the search continued. Rescue leaders warned that the odds of finding people alive dropped sharply after roughly 72 hours under rubble, a milestone that passed Saturday evening.