Close to the rubble of what used to be an eight-storey apartment complex on the northern coast of Venezuela, relatives and loved ones of the missing wait, hope and pray.Every so often, rescue efforts are punctuated by calls for silence as volunteers listen out for any noise from under the mass of concrete, wire and dust.Volunteers periodically relay updates, sometimes with descriptions of tattoos, clothing or personal effects recovered from the debris.“Does anyone have a family member with colourful stars on their arm?” says one.A few minutes later: “This is the mobile phone of a woman with straight black hair. Does anyone know who she might be?”With every hour that passes, the hope of finding survivors fades – but the stories of those who managed to escape bring renewed belief for some.A collapsed building in Caraballeda, on the northern coast of Venezuela. Photograph: Miguel Medina/Pool/AFP via Getty Images Michelle Morgana, who lived on the sixth floor of the Ilona apartment complex in the town of Caraballeda, somehow managed to walk away from the rubble with only minor injuries.“It felt like we were being lifted into the air,” she said. “The lower floors disappeared.” She and her husband descended using tied bedsheets, landing on mattresses placed below. “It’s a miracle,” she said, adding that she had moved into the apartment only 10 days earlier.[ Venezuela earthquake: ‘The mood was relaxed ... then everything started to shake’Opens in new window ]The sheer scale of the disaster is slowly beginning to emerge. On Saturday, the official death toll was announced at 1,430, but tens of thousands are still reported missing. In the worst-affected region of La Guaira state, about 40km north of the capital Caracas, satellite images show large swathes of flattened buildings. Video clips on social media show dozens upon dozens of bodies piled in groups outside a collapsed apartment complex in the area, while health services are struggling to cope with the volume of injured.In a nearby building in El Palmar del Oeste, a group led by pastor Marianella Torres de Montilla have brought food, water and basic supplies. They travelled overnight from Maracay, some 146km away. Road damage and congestion delayed their arrival.People receive donations in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, Venezuela. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images “We tried to help with rescues,” she said. “The first people we reached were already dead.”At the same site, volunteers using hand tools managed to extract a woman alive from the ruins on Friday. She was taken away by ambulance. Elsewhere, frustration is growing among relatives over the perceived lack of co-ordination. While military personnel and heavy machinery are present at a limited number of sites, such support was absent at most locations. Antony García, waiting for news of his brother, says official help has been far too slow arriving.“They’ve abandoned us,” he said. “There’s no assistance and hardly any officials.”When a rescue crew eventually arrived, he says they ordered volunteers to leave, even though there had been sounds coming from under the rubble.Volunteers searchthrough the rubble in a collapsed building in Caraballeda, La Guaira state. Photograph: Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images He said his family had earlier rescued his mother from the debris, but she later died after being transferred to a medical facility. “She needed oxygen,” said García. “They said she was stable, but she went into cardiac arrest.”Across Caraballeda, buildings lean precariously or are pancaked entirely, creating an uneven skyline along the coast. La Guaira state – which stretches for roughly 170km along the Caribbean – has reported widespread damage to housing and infrastructure, including the international airport. Venezuela’s government said on Saturday that 1,600 members of foreign rescue teams had arrived to help search for survivors. “In recent hours, Venezuela has received 17 flights carrying more than 1,600 members of rescue ​teams, and over the next 24 hours the arrival of 25 additional flights is expected,” said foreign ministry official Oliver Blanco.For the families of loved ones still trapped under the rubble, the help cannot come quickly enough.