After Twin Quakes, Venezuela's Neighbours Dig with Bare Hands for the Living Among the Dead
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Neighbours dug by hand as Venezuela's death toll from two powerful earthquakes passed 230, with thousands still missing and aid arriving from across the world.
By Pranjal Gupta
New Delhi, June 26: In cities across northern Venezuela, neighbours helped each other dig through rubble to search for loved ones on Thursday after back-to-back earthquakes that officials say killed more than 230 people and left thousands injured the night before.
The official death toll rose to around 235 late Thursday, with at least 4,300 people injured, Venezuela's Health Minister Carlos Alvarado told state media. The number of casualties is expected to climb, with thousands reported missing and frantic rescue efforts still under way.
The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck on Wednesday evening were among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and were felt throughout the region. The injured were pulled out covered in dust and blood, among them children and animals.
Venezuelan state television showed dramatic images of rescues, including a woman trapped beneath a concrete slab with only a bare foot visible before rescuers slid her out alive. Few government search teams, however, were initially seen outside the capital, Caracas.
Reeling from the ruins
Many Venezuelans were stunned on Thursday morning as they came upon buildings reduced to skeletal frames, furniture hanging from windows and helicopters circling overhead. Streets cracked open. Families posted missing-person flyers with photographs of loved ones; others shared handwritten lists of names. Venezuelans abroad struggled to reach relatives as phone service across the country was interrupted.
In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, car parks and other open spaces.
Dayana Delgado, a mother of three, asked where the heavy machinery that government officials had promised was, and said it was ordinary residents doing the digging."I want to know where my child is, if he's trapped or in a shelter," she said of her missing eight-year-old son.
One mother collapsed in grief as the bodies of her three- and ten-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and carried away. Others screamed the names of the missing. Some stood in silent shock.
The coastal region of La Guaira, north of Caracas, suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties. Venezuela's main international airport sits there and was closed due to damage, complicating the delivery of aid. The area is no stranger to catastrophe: a mudslide in 1999 killed thousands and remains one of the country's worst natural disasters on record.
Cristian Carreño stood in La Guaira staring at his charred apartment building as it leaned precariously to one side. "I lost everything," he said. "There are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn't get out. It's incredibly devastating."
Venezuelan authorities said they were diverting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira.
International response
India was among the first to respond, with two Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft taking off carrying an Indian Army Field Hospital Unit, over 35 tonnes of relief supplies, medicines, medical equipment and two BHISHM Cubes, specialised emergency medical systems.
Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said India was "committed to support the Government and people of Venezuela in this difficult time", describing the deployment as Operation Amistad.
Venezuelan public television showed the arrival of rescue workers and aid from Chile at a military base in Aragua state early on Friday. A team of 80 specialists and eight search dogs from Switzerland also arrived with supplies. Turkey announced two flights would leave Istanbul on Friday carrying military, medical and rescue personnel and a pair of search dogs. Leaders from Qatar, Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Canada vowed to send assistance. Rescue teams from El Salvador and the Dominican Republic arrived on Thursday, alongside rescuers and material aid from Mexico.
"No country is prepared to provide the response that's needed. That's what neighbouring countries are there for," said Dominican Air Force Major Carlos Olivares.
