Venezuela Earthquake Death Toll Tops 1,700 as Rescue Efforts Continue in Caracas and La Guaira

Rescue efforts in Venezuela continued nearly a week after two back-to-back earthquakes devastated Caracas and the nearby city of La Guaira, with thousands of people trapped under the rubble of flattened homes and buildings.

Venezuelan health officials said Monday that over 1,700 people were confirmed dead, while the UN said it was procuring 10,000 body bags as the window for finding survivors closed.

ABC News

The New York Times reported the Venezuelan government raised the death toll to 1,719 on Monday, alongside 5,034 injured and 15,866 displaced, with those figures expected to keep rising.

In La Guaira, the New York Times said officials were processing about 750 bodies each day, and the UN coordinator in Venezuela, Gianluca Rampolla, said the number of collapsed buildings suggested there were many more deaths.

The CBC reported that on Tuesday rescue teams from Ecuador and the U.S. halted operations early in Macuto after more than 40 hours, when they stopped receiving responses from a mother and her three children trapped beneath a nine-storey building.

Beatriz Ochoa, Latin America head of advocacy for the Norwegian Refugee Council, said “we’re seeing also a lot of solidarity from the Venezuelan people” as people shared space and resources with those displaced by the quakes.

Ochoa added that “We will need to transition to more medium- and longer-term solutions,” calling for affordable housing and “a more dignified place to sleep” as rescue work continues.

Al Jazeera

The CBC quoted Maj. Jorge Montanero, leader of the Ecuador team from Guayaquil, saying, "In the end, we believe the days have already passed and that what we will find now is death," as he stood amid rubble after cutting through four concrete slabs.

The International Rescue Committee said the “scale of the response does not meet the scale ⁠of humanitarian need,” while the CBC also reported a website promoted by the country’s political opposition put the number of people still missing at around 43,000.

The New York Times reported President Delcy Rodríguez vowed that rescue operations would not stop, and in the early hours of Monday said a 21-year-old man had been pulled from the rubble after a 43-hour rescue operation.

As rescue efforts continued, the UN said it had agreed to procure 10,000 body bags and warned that recovery “is going to take time,” with Venezuelan authorities confirming at least 1,719 deaths and some 5,000 more injured.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Venezuela Gianluca Rampolla said the UN and Venezuelan authorities had agreed to procure 10,000 body bags, and he reported that seven people were pulled alive from the rubble on Sunday.

The UN News report said more than 2,000 rescue workers from 27 countries and over 160 search dogs were deployed across more than 40 teams, and it described hazardous conditions as aftershocks continued.

The UN said it was preparing three assistance centres in La Guaira for families who had lost their homes, and Vanessa May of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, “There are people who need a hug,” describing families waiting for news of loved ones.

Looking ahead to longer-term needs, the UN News report quoted Vanessa May saying, “This is going to take time,” and described plans for rapid assessments, debris removal, early recovery, and soil surveys before any relocation.