With time running out, Venezuelans comb rubble for survivors
ONP Summary
Venezuela experienced twin earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude, killing more than 1,400 people with tens of thousands unaccounted for. Rescue operations have recovered 33 individuals from the debris so far, including two 11-year-old boys extracted after 70 hours trapped underground. Search efforts by residents and rescue teams continue while heavy machinery remains unavailable, but the timeframe for locating additional survivors is rapidly narrowing.
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RESCUE workers carry a baby rescued from the rubble in La Guaira.—Reuters
• Death toll from deadly quakes rises to 1,450, with tens of thousands still missing
• Newborn, two boys pulled out alive from rubble after three days
LA GUAIRA: Rescue crews raced on Sunday to find survivors in the rubble of Venezuela’s powerful earthquakes as the death toll reached 1,450 and hopes dwindled more than three days after the earth roared and rumbled.
Tens of thousands of people were reported missing as collapsed buildings dotted cities in a country already enduring an economic crisis and political upheaval after US forces captured former president Nicolas Maduro in January.
Millions of people were also feared to lack sanitation and other basic needs.
Experts say the first 72 hours after natural disasters are the key, narrow window for finding the living. After that the search becomes one of recovering bodies.
The US Geological Survey estimated more than 10,000 deaths were possible from the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, which would place them among Latin America’s deadliest of the last century.
A Salvadoran rescue worker who declined to give his name put it this way: “At this point, they are probably dead bodies. Thanks to God maybe we can find people still alive.”
An 11-year-old boy was rescued from the rubble in Caraballeda, north of Caracas, on Saturday, three days after the magnitude tremors, interim leader Delcy Rodriguez said.
“Every life is a source of hope for Venezuela,” she said in a post on X, accompanied by a video of the rescue.
A Colombian rescue team saved another 11-year-old boy, Moises, who had been trapped some 10 feet deep in rubble, after identifying his location with a scanner, Reuters TV reported.
He was removed on a stretcher with a broken arm, his eyes covered by cloth to protect them from the shock of daylight. His mother and sister were killed.
Facing public outrage at the response by local officials, Rodriguez thanked other countries for the outpouring of aid.
Twenty-four countries have sent 521 tonnes of supplies, 86 units with dogs trained to locate people trapped beneath the rubble and more than 2,700 search-and-rescue personnel, she said.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher told AFP on Friday that the death toll could continue to soar, adding that more than 50,000 people were missing.
Newborn rescued
There was joy in the hardest-hit coastal area of La Guaira, north of Caracas, when locals pulled an infant alive out of the wreckage.
In one social media video, a man welled up in tears as he held the baby in his arms.
The UN migration agency said it had examined available population and damage data and had determined that “up to 6.76 million people could be affected”, and would “require emergency shelter, safe water, sanitation and hygiene services, healthcare, protection support and essential relief items”.
National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez reported on Saturday 1,450 dead and 3,238 people injured, while the United Nations estimated $6.7 billion in physical damage — equivalent to six per cent of Venezuela’s GDP.
Foreign nationals confirmed dead include 28 Portuguese, nine Spaniards, seven Chinese, two Brazilians, one Chilean, one Italian Venezuelan and one Uruguayan.
Venezuelans — already battered by years of a failing economy and the turbulence of the US intervention to topple Maduro — were furious at the government.
Yessica Mendoza was forced to transport her own daughter to a morgue in Caracas after 25-year-old Yesimar Rodriguez and her husband Jhomel Anaya, 26, did not survive the tumbling debris of their home in La Guaira on Wednesday. “We were the ones who pulled them out ourselves. No help ever came,” the bereaved mother, 43, told AFP.
The government has restricted access to La Guaira state, deployed the military to the area and required volunteers to obtain a safe-entry pass.
Anger among those impatiently waiting to volunteer surged as they waited for passes outside a concert hall in the capital. “You need a permit to save lives — just imagine,” complained Carlos Itriago, 27. “I’ve been here since dawn standing in line so I can go rescue people,” said Ezequiel Rivero, 53.
Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2026 ...