Delcy Rodríguez Says Venezuela Earthquakes Killed At Least 2,595, Injured 12,400

Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez said at least 2,595 people died and another 12,400 were injured from the pair of earthquakes that struck on June 24, as rescuers continued searching and nearly 50,000 people remained unaccounted for.

“Earthquake death toll rises to 2,595, over 12,000 injured -- Venezuelan acting president [](https://subscribe”

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Rodríguez said the earthquakes knocked down buildings and trapped some people for days, and she added that the country had experienced more than 862 aftershocks.

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Jorge Rodriguez, a Venezuelan lawmaker, said 26,403 people had been impacted, including those who lost homes or saw serious damage to their homes.

ABC News described a 120-hour rescue operation that pulled a married father of two from the rubble of a destroyed shopping mall, and it also reported that Dayana Patiño and her 18-day-old son Juan David were pulled from a collapsed apartment building after being trapped for more than 30 hours.

The International Rescue Committee said children are among the nearly 50,000 people still missing, while it also noted that Venezuela’s water system has failed in some areas, leaving many survivors without guaranteed access to safe drinking water.

Al Jazeera reported that a man was rescued from a collapsed building eight days after twin earthquakes devastated Venezuela, as attention shifted from finding survivors under the rubble to addressing humanitarian needs for displaced residents.

The rescue on Thursday reached 43-year-old security guard Hernan Gil in Catia La Mar, and Al Jazeera said rescue teams from seven countries, including Venezuela, Chile, the United States, Portugal, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Mexico, worked to free him.

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Gil’s wife, Gusbimar Gonzalez, told AFP, “This is truly a miracle,” and Cristian Vera, the leader of the Chilean rescue team, said rescuers dug a three-metre (9.8-foot) tunnel to extract him.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent Zein Basravi said many collapsed buildings in La Guaira, located north of Caracas, have been marked with the letter D for “deceased,” and he described the emergency response as set to “move away from rescue and recovery into a very different phase of this disaster”.

The same Al Jazeera report said humanitarian workers warned the aftermath could lead to a health crisis, and it cited the World Food Programme’s appeal for $50m to feed some 500,000 people for three months.

As the death toll continued to be updated, Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared seven days of national mourning, saying, “In honour of the memory of the victims, I have decided to decree National Mourning for seven (7) days, starting at 6:00 p.m. today,” in a statement posted on social media on Wednesday.

Rodríguez said the earthquakes killed 2,595 people, injured more than 12,000, and destroyed 189 buildings, and she also said 25 temporary camps were active, including 13 in La Guaira and eight in Caracas.

She added that authorities were moving quickly to equip the camps and transfer affected people there, and she said since June 24 Venezuela recorded 782 aftershocks, though their frequency and magnitude had decreased.

Rodríguez also announced a $200 million reconstruction fund in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Xinhua reported that she said the earthquakes destroyed 189 buildings and injured more than 12,000 others.

Aju Press, citing Reuters, said Rodríguez denied criticism of slow response by stating, “The government did not wait a day or two to act immediately,” and it reported that 4,000 personnel were dispatched right after the earthquake with the number of deployed personnel now increased to 19,000.