Powerful twin earthquakes have killed at least 32 people and hurt hundreds in Venezuela, the nation's leader said Thursday, with dozens of buildings collapsed or heavily damaged in a hard-hit area near the capital.
Venezuela's strongest earthquake since 1900 sent rescuers and locals clambering in the dark over flattened buildings, hunting for survivors and extracting people from under the ruins.
Countries including the US, China, and India offered to urgently send help after the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, struck areas west of the capital on Wednesday evening.
Interim president Delcy Rodriguez said the 32 dead and over 700 wounded did not include the hard-hit state of La Guaira, raising the possibility the toll could climb.
"We have nothing, right now we have nothing, not even the strength or the courage to go in there, just imagine," Larry Rojas, 49, told AFP, standing in front of a collapsed building where his family was trapped in La Guaira city of Catia la Mar.
