ع
Venezuelan officials have placed the death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck northern coastal areas on June 24 above 1,400 with more than 3,200 injured according to multiple reports including those published by France 24 and Al Jazeera. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the events as a magnitude 7.2 quake followed 39 seconds later by a 7.5 tremor with an epicenter near Morón roughly 100 miles west of Caracas. A Council on Foreign Relations summary noted these were the strongest earthquakes to hit Venezuela in more than a century and that the official toll is expected to rise further as search operations continue. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez described the disaster as the most brutal natural catastrophe in the country’s history while declaring a state of emergency.
Angry Venezuelans accuse government of negligence and apathy as residents in La Guaira told visiting journalists that initial rescue work fell almost entirely to local volunteers. Miguel Oscar Nunez whose son Angel was trapped in a collapsed 12-storey building told the BBC it was possible the earthquake had not killed him but warned of death from official inaction. Kevin Montilla whose wife and daughter were inside the same structure said the operation started very late with police merely checking rather than assisting and described the overall government response as frustrating and impotent. A New York Times correspondent reported one resident shouting ‘I see no one here! This is the government’s neglect!’ as days passed with limited state presence.
Rescue teams from Colombia El Salvador and the United States arrived to support Venezuelan firefighters according to NPR and Al Jazeera dispatches that highlighted international aid efforts intensifying after the first 48 hours. France 24 reported that some locals blocked an excavator from leaving a site after officials took photos and departed without helping while tensions rose over what many viewed as an inadequate and underprepared response. BBC teams observed families using spades crowbars and bare hands at the Bello Horizonte complex and other rubble sites where high-rises had pancaked along the coastline road.
Deilisbeth Herreira searching for her 12-year-old and 13-year-old daughters at a La Guaira hospital told the BBC she had received help from no one and that no machines or rescuers had been sent to her area leaving her to search alone. William Rodrigues looking for his uncle at the same complex said the stench was horrible yet he persisted because people might still be alive and added that help arrived very late in most places with some areas still waiting. Juan Avendo a 60-year-old whose own home was destroyed described hearing screams at night and using his hands to claw through debris until a woman could be passed water and pulled free the next morning according to his account to the BBC.
The Venezuelan government has moved to restrict access to La Guaira state one of the hardest-hit zones Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced as cited in regional wire reports. NPR noted that Venezuelans in neighboring Colombia were scrambling to organize and send additional aid while hospitals in the affected zone filled rapidly with limited communications and power. U.S. assistance has included direct shipments of relief supplies as coverage by WSFA and KWCH indicated amid the ongoing hunt for survivors still listed as missing.
Official figures initially stood near 235 deaths before climbing steadily through the weekend with Al Jazeera placing the count at 920 by Friday and other outlets tracking it past 1,400 by Sunday. The New York Times reported that the decade-long economic depression had hollowed out rescue services contributing to the slow deployment observed by residents on the ground. As of June 30 search operations at several major collapse sites had been scaled back after no further signs of life were detected though authorities have not released a final toll or missing-persons list.
