Venezuela race against time as earthquake survivors dwindle

Rescue teams pulled two 11-year-old boys from collapsed buildings on Sunday. One of the boys, Moises, had been buried under about 3 meters of debris and reached after a six-hour rescue operation, while a father and son were also brought out alive four days after the twin quakes.

The rescues offered brief relief in a disaster that has left relatives waiting through a fifth night for news of missing loved ones. Families and volunteers kept digging through wreckage by hand in La Guaira, the coastal state hardest hit by the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes that struck 39 seconds apart on Wednesday, June 24, about 40 kilometers north of Caracas. They described scarce heavy machinery and limited official presence before more than 2,600 foreign rescue workers arrived to reinforce the search.

Delcy Rodríguez said 33 people were rescued over the weekend, including several children and a baby. Her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, said the country was in “critical hours” and gave the latest official toll as at least 1,450 dead, 3,150 injured, 12,721 displaced and 774 buildings collapsed. The first 48 to 72 hours after a disaster are the crucial window for finding people alive, though survivors can sometimes be located later if they have access to food and water.

La Guaira’s electricity supply had been restored to 75%, school classes were suspended for another week and a presidential commission had been formed to determine which buildings remained habitable. The government tightened access to roads leading into the worst-affected areas, citing traffic that was blocking emergency vehicles.

A website listed just under 50,000 people unaccounted for on Sunday, down from 55,000 the day before.