Members of Venezuela's Civil Defense remove debris and search for survivors at buildings collapsed during the earthquakes in the municipality of Chacao in eastern Caracas, Venezuela, on Thursday. Two earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck Venezuela on Wednesday. Photo by Boris Vegraga/EPA
June 25 (UPI) -- Nearly 40 aftershocks and widespread communications outages have compounded the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela following twin earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 that struck the country Wednesday, leaving hundreds missing and exposing the fragility of the nation's emergency response system.
As authorities continue assessing what appears to be Venezuela's worst natural disaster in decades, government officials and independent organizations say tens of thousands of people remain missing or out of contact amid widespread infrastructure damage and disruptions to basic services.
Venezuela's interim government, led by Delcy Rodríguez, reported on Thursday a preliminary death toll of 188 people and nearly 1,500 injured nationwide.
With no centralized official registry, civil society groups have created independent online platforms to help locate missing people. One website, desaparecidosterremotovenezuela.com
