Venezuela Earthquake Death Toll Reaches 1,430 as La Guaira Rescuers Search for Survivors

In Venezuela, frustration grew as the earthquake death toll reached 1,430 and rescuers and civilians searched for survivors in the state of La Guaira, where desperation drove people to use shovels, heavy equipment, ropes and bare hands atop mounds of toppled concrete.

The AP reported that families said at least 68,900 people were missing on Saturday, three days after the one-two punch of 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes devastated the South American nation.

Al Jazeera

CNN said the death toll had climbed to at least 1,450 and cited a Sunday update from National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez saying 3,150 others were injured and at least 12,721 people had lost their homes.

In La Guaira, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said more than 14,000 members of the military and police were patrolling the area, where access was blocked and special permits were required to enter.

As the 72-hour window passed, Fox News said the survival window was “desperately fading” for nearly 50,000 still feared missing, while Reuters’ Sebastian Eugster warned that after roughly 72 hours the probability of saving people alive decreases sharply.

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez framed the response on state television as a full effort during “critical hours for rescuing people alive,” while CBS News reported that Venezuelans said they saw few state rescue teams despite authorities projecting an image of a robust government response.

In the rubble, Mileidy Romero asked why rescuers had not reached people she said were alive, telling AP, “At 8 p.m. (yesterday) there were people alive down there, and they haven’t bothered to rescue them.”

AP News

CNN highlighted moments of relief, including the rescue of two 11-year-old boys and an infant in separate operations, and said crews were in the “crucial hours to continue to save lives.”

Fox News described how search-and-rescue crews pulled 33 people alive from collapsed buildings over the weekend, and it quoted Delcy Rodríguez writing on X, “In these hours each life is hope for Venezuela,” after one of the rescues.

Reuters’ Sebastian Eugster, quoted by Fox News, said, “There exists a window of roughly three days, 72 hours, where the probability afterwards decreases that you can save people alive,” as aftershocks continued to complicate rescue work.

The United Nations said more than 2,000 rescue workers from 27 countries were deployed to locate people trapped under rubble, and it reported that at the request of the Venezuelan Government, 44 international urban search and rescue teams deployed 2,245 specialists and 140 search dogs.

UN News also put a price tag on the disaster’s direct physical damage, estimating about $6.7 billion, equivalent to about six per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, with a range of losses between $4.7 billion and $8.7 billion.

CNN said the disaster compounded issues stemming from years of economic and political strife, particularly for the overwhelmed healthcare system, while UNICEF estimated about 680,000 children were in need of humanitarian assistance.

In La Guaira, BBC reported that after more than three days rescuers still had hope if people had access to food and water, and it described how families were digging through debris by hand as aftershocks terrified residents.

As the response stretched, AP reported that international rescue teams and civilians continued searching in La Guaira while tensions flared over what many Venezuelans viewed as an inadequate government response, with access blocked and special permits required to enter.