235 dead in devastating, back-to-back earthquakes

Venezuela’s Health Minister Carlos ​Alvarado said the death toll from the back-to-back earthquakes in the country has risen to at least 235.

“We’ve unfortunately received about 235 ​patients who arrived without ⁠vital ​signs ​or who ​passed away ‌as they’re arriving ​at ⁠our health centers,” ⁠Alvarado ​said in an ‌interview with state television.

The United States has said it’s deploying two warships, transport planes and helicopters to assist earthquake-hit Venezuela.

They include the amphibious transport ship USS Fort Lauderdale and the littoral combat ship USS Billings (LCS 15), as well as C-17 Globemaster and C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.

The US military’s Southern Command said its forces would provide support for search-and-rescue teams and “US interagency partners as they assess damage, locate the injured, and deliver critical, life-saving assistance.”

Washington has also pledged to provide $150 million in aid.

Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said the US would provide a “whole-of-government” response to the twin quakes.

Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, has visited La Guaira, a state located near the capital, Caracas, that was among those hardest hit by Wednesday’s devastating earthquakes.

From Macuto, a historic seaside city and civil parish in the state, Rodriguez — standing alongside Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Parliament Speaker Jorge Rodríguez — addressed the nation, according to footage from the state-run TV channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).

“We hope to rescue as many people as possible while they are still alive,” she said. “We have requested international assistance; the first rescue workers from the Dominican Republic are about to land, and others from other countries will arrive shortly.”

The ‌US ⁠Treasury ⁠has ​issued ​a license ‌authorizing transactions ‌related to ‌earthquake ​relief efforts in ​Venezuela ⁠that ​would ​have ​been ‌banned ​under ⁠sanctions
into ⁠October.

The president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, said the death toll from the twin quakes now stands at 188, with over 1,520 others injured due to the catastrophe. 

Many more people are feared dead after the disaster, with rescue work underway.  

Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast said he had spoken to Venezuela’s Acting Presdient Delcy Rodriguez “to convey to her Chile’s solidarity in the difficult times facing the Venezuelan people.”

He pledged aid and personnel to assist in rescue efforts. 

“We are managing the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid and the deployment of rescue teams to address the earthquake emergency,” Kast wrote. 

Kast’s right-wing government and its predecessors had very strained ties to the administration of former President Nicolas Maduro in recent years.

Like much of the West, Chile did not recognize Maduro as the rightful winner of 2024’s presidential elections. Both countries closed their respective embassies thereafter. 

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher says aid workers are “fully mobilized to support the people of Venezuela following the deadly and devastating earthquakes.” 

Fletcher published a statement saying he was in constant contact with a UN team in Caracas, who in turn were coordinating with Venezuela’s interim administration. 

He said the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was coordinating the deployment of urban search and rescue teams from various countries offering help. 

“The solidarity and practical offers from the region and beyond are superb,” Fletcher said. “The coming days will require a massive collective effort to support the Government-led response and help communities.” 

Fletcher noted how even before Wednesday’s quake, 8 million people in Venezuela were in need of humanitarian support, a situation that was now only likely to deteriorate.

The Moron Petrochemical Complex, Venezuela’s second-largest operational facility of its kind, was restarting on Thursday after a preventive shutdown in response to Wednesday’s quakes. 

The chief of firefighters in the area said that work was restarting at the facility, which sustained infrastructure damages during the quake. 

Workers had been told not to come while an initial assessment on damages was conducted, Reuters reported citing sources from the center. It reported that they had detected a leak from a storage tank on Wednesday. 

Moron is situated not far east of the quakes’ epicenters, just west of the port city of Puerto Cabello. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US will provide a “whole-of-government” response to the twin quakes, noting that access questions could be challenging with the main international airport in La Guaira damaged. 

“The Department of War is going to have to play a big logistical role here because they have the ability to land in challenging places right now,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to Bahrain, using the new name for what until recently was known as the Department of Defense.

“So we have a whole-of-governemnt response,” Rubio said. “It’ll be big, it’ll be fast, and it’ll be effective.” 

Rubio said that any potential impacts on US operations in Venezuela following the capture and arrest of President Nicolas Maduro in January was not foremost in his mind. 

“Right now we’re worried that there are people trapped in the rubble. We want to help get them out,” he said, noting how some of those people could have relatives based in the US.

Germany has offered support to Venezuela after two major earthquakes left over a hundred dead.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin stood ready to assist and expressed sympathy for victims and those who lost their homes.

“The news of the terrible earthquake in Venezuela has left us deeply saddened. Germany stands with Venezuela and will provide assistance,” Merz said.

“Our thoughts are with the victims and those who have lost everything they own. I wish the injured strength and a speedy recovery.”

Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also pledged swift help.

“Our hearts go out to all those who have lost loved ones, those injured and those working tirelessly to rescue survivors,” Wadephul said. “Germany stands ready to support the people of Venezuela.”

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had earlier offered up to six A400M transport aircraft.

Pistorius said the planes could be used to airlift personnel and supplies as well as support transport within the country.

Early reports out of Venezuela have focused to a large extent on the capital Caracas and the state of La Guaira immediately to its north that’s home to the damaged international airport. 

Acting President Delcy Rodriguez declared La Guaira a disaster zone and among the worst-hit areas.

However, the two magnitude 7-plus quakes on Wednesday struck around 160 kilometers (or roughly 100 miles) west of the capital. 

Three major population centers in particular stand out as being much closer to the heart of the quakes than the capital and the coast to its north.

San Felipe, the capital of the state of Yaracuy in Central-Western Venezuela, is situated inland, roughly 20 kilometers southwest of the two main epicenters. It’s home to more than 200,000 people. 

The major northern port of Puerto Cabello in Carabobo State was in the region of 60 kilometers east of the epicenters. It’s home to just under 200,000 people and is in a more exposed coastal location than the high-altitude San Felipe.

To the south of Puerto Cabello lies Venezuela’s third-largest city, Valencia. The state capital of Carabobo, it has a population of 1.6 million, and is situated southeast of the two main quakes.

French President Emmanuel Macron says he spoke with acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Thursday. 

“I expressed France’s solidarity with the Venezuelan people and said our thoughts were with the victims and their loved ones,” Macron wrote online. 

Macron said that France was ready, along with its European partners, to provide assistance to Venezuelan people and authorities.

“A team of 85 French rescuers specialized in search and rescue operations will be deployed immediately,” he said.

Spain’s Defense Ministry said that 54 army rescuers were ready to deploy and assist in dealing with the aftermath of the quakes. 

The contingent from the army’s emergencies unit “combines the use of specially trained search dogs and specific devices like rescue cameras or geophones,” the ministry wrote online. 

Despite sometimes difficult ties in recent years amid the international ostracism of Venezuela’s governments under former Presidents Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, Spain has close historical and cultural ties to Venezuela.

It is home to the world’s largest population of Venezuelan emigres besides the US. 

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez issued a drastically increased death toll early on Thursday, saying that at least 164 people had died following the magnitude 7.5 and 7.2 quakes and other seismic activity. 

At least 971 people were injured, Rodriguez said.

Rescuers had been working through the night in the capital Caracas and other parts of the country. 

The main pair of quakes’ epicenters were located fairly far to the west of Caracas, near the city of San Felipe. But some of the smaller aftershocks were much closer to the major population center.