Emergency crews and residents scrambled to save survivors trapped beneath collapsed buildings in Venezuela Thursday after two powerful earthquakes killed at least 164 people and caused widespread devastation.
Buildings cracked and crumbled and residents fled into the streets after the quakes, which the United States Geological Survey measured as magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, hit northern Venezuela within a minute of each other.
Offers of rescue support and aid flooded in from around the world as interim president Delcy Rodriguez reported at least 164 dead and over 970 hurt.
The state of La Guaira, north of Caracas, was hit particularly hard, and residents stumbled through debris calling out the names of loved ones or tried in vain to rescue the injured.
"There's a spot where a young woman named Jennifer, from the 11th floor, answers me. However, we don't have any tools; we have no way to help," said Antonio Bermudez, whose building collapsed in La Guaira.
