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June 24 quakes’ toll
Twin earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24, with the World Bank Group estimating $19.6 billion in direct physical damage and saying the overall cost of rebuilding could climb to as much as $50 billion once reconstruction, resilience upgrades and structural improvements are taken into account.
The World Bank Group said residential buildings accounted for 47% of total damage, followed by infrastructure at 27% and non-residential buildings at 26%, and it reported that the earthquakes left 5,069 people dead, 16,740 injured and 17,907 displaced, according to official figures.
Emergency crews pulled 6,462 survivors from collapsed buildings as search-and-rescue operations continued for days, and authorities established more than 100 temporary shelters to house displaced residents while distributing emergency food, drinking water and medical supplies.
The BBC reported that families were still searching for remains a month after the twin earthquakes, with government officials saying the death toll had surpassed 5,300 and estimates of the number still missing could be as high as 50,000.
The BBC also described La Guaira as the region worst-hit by the twin earthquakes on 24 June, where flattened apartment buildings line the coast and families continue searching amid ongoing rubble.
Rescue tech and search
Ars Technica reported that robot snakes were used to search for trapped survivors in the aftermath of the June 24 earthquakes, with the article describing snakebots equipped with a video camera that could squeeze through tight spaces to search deep within fallen building debris.
Ars Technica quoted Howie Choset, head of the Biorobotics Lab at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, saying, "The reason why snake robots are useful is they can get into tightly packed volumes".
The BBC said families in Venezuela were still searching for remains of their loved ones a month after the tremors first hit, and it described a makeshift hospital formed on the site of a country club in Caraballeda where survivors were being cared for.
In La Guaira, Folha de S.Paulo quoted Major Roni Kaplan describing the situation as a "colossal disaster" during a telephone interview on the last day of the Israeli mission in the country.
Folha de S.Paulo reported that Kaplan’s team removed the bodies of a family found between the first and second floors of a building in the Caraballeda region, with the father and mother both 41 and the son a nine-year-old boy, while the grandmother was 67.
Reconstruction stakes and aid
The World Bank Group warned that if reconstruction continues under current public and private investment levels, much of the rebuilding would rely on diverting funds from other projects and would still remain incomplete after 10 years.
“Families in Venezuela are still searching for the remains of their loved ones, lost amid the rubble of flattened apartment buildings that line the coast of La Guaira, the region worst-hit by twin earthquakes on 24 June”
The World Bank Group said a faster rebuilding effort backed by greater investment would reduce the long-term economic and social consequences of the earthquakes, and it quoted World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean Susana Cordeiro Guerra saying, "This assessment gives the Government of Venezuela and its partners an early objective foundation for recovery planning".
The International Rescue Committee said it was scaling up services to support survivors of the two deadly earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24, reporting over 5,300 deaths and 16,000 injuries and stating that approximately 41,000 people are missing.
The IRC said more than 800 buildings have been affected and that the national water system has failed across seven states, while nearly 18,000 people have lost their homes and schools in affected areas have been turned into emergency shelters.
Folha de S.Paulo reported that Kaplan said the mission’s work had shifted toward reconstruction and debris removal, and he said, "Of course rebuilding a devastated region like this is a job that will take years."
