The death toll from twin earthquakes in Venezuela rose Friday to nearly 1,000, with tens of thousands reported missing as international rescue teams boosted a desperate and slow-moving search for survivors. Caracas residents jeered interim leader Delcy Rodriguez during her visit to a devastated neighborhood, as fury over the perceived lack of an official response mounted. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher told AFP that more than 50,000 people were missing after two powerful earthquakes struck within a minute of each other on Wednesday evening, flattening buildings in the north of the country. The coastal area of La Guaira, near the capital Caracas, was the worst hit, with one building after another crumpled by the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes. Access to the disaster zone was restricted from 8:00 pm on Friday (0000 GMT Saturday), Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced in a televised address.
A volunteer carries a rescued dog across the rubble of a collapsed building following twin earthquakes in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, in Venezuela. © Federico Parra, AFP
A rescue team from Chile arrived at one residential complex in La Guaira made up of four tall buildings housing hundreds of apartments that had largely been reduced to rubble. "Unfortunately, the collapse is total, and there is little chance of finding survivors. Efforts are now focused on recovering the bodies of the deceased," team leader Nadiomar Polanco said at the site, which resembles many others in the city. Elsewhere, family members, neighbors and volunteers used their bare hands to try to dig out survivors, bemoaning the lack of heavy machinery or official help to save those trapped alive.
