LA GUAIRA, Venezuela: Rescue crews raced Saturday to find survivors in the rubble of Venezuela’s powerful earthquakes as the death toll reached 1,430 and hopes dwindled more than three days after the earth roared and rumbled.
Tens of thousands of people were reported missing as collapsed buildings dotted cities in a country already enduring an economic crisis and political upheaval after US special forces captured authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro in January.
Millions of people were also feared to lack sanitation and other basic needs.
Experts say the first 72 hours after natural disasters are the key, narrow window for finding the living. After that the search becomes one of recovering bodies.
A Salvadoran rescue worker who declined to give his name put it this way: “At this point, they are probably dead bodies. Thanks to God maybe we can find people still alive.”
