MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Sunday, July 5th 2026 - 20:55 UTC
Managing the rubble is emerging as one of the main challenges
Venezuela entered a new stage in its response to the June 24 twin earthquake, focused on clearing rubble and recovering bodies, after the departure of nearly all international rescue teams. In the streets of La Guaira, the hardest-hit area, dozens of machines arrived in recent hours to speed up those tasks, which now fall mainly to Venezuelan volunteers, firefighters, civil defense and residents. The official toll stands at 2,954 dead and more than 16,500 injured.
Coordination of operations was transferred on Friday from the UN to Venezuela's Civil Protection, a change marking the shift from the search for survivors to the recovery phase. “From the seventh, the teams begin to demobilize, though there are still teams that arrived later and continue, mainly from Latin America,” Sebastián Mocarquer, of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team, told the EFE news agency. Of the 77 teams that came from 31 countries, 25 remain operational, though most are now working alongside local brigades in recovering bodies. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez bid farewell to and decorated rescuers from close to 30 countries.
