The death toll from Venezuela’s devastating twin earthquakes has risen to at least 2,954, an updated official count showed on Saturday.
The death toll has risen by more than 300 since Friday, while more than 16,500 people have been injured in last month’s disaster. Thousands of people are missing.
On June 24, two consecutive earthquakes shook Venezuela, in what soon became one of the worst earthquake disasters ever seen in Latin America.
With magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, the successive earthquakes occurred just seconds apart and had the greatest impact on the coastal La Guaira region, north of the capital Caracas.
Authorities have recorded a total of 942 aftershocks since the earthquake.
rescue operation called off
International rescue workers have begun searching for survivors of long-lasting earthquakes with a critical evacuation period of 72 hours.
Despite low chances of survival, some people were found alive this week.
The Venezuelan government has not given any estimate of the missing, but the United Nations estimates the number of missing to be as high as 50,000.
International disaster squads, including some US and South American teams, are beginning to wind down rescue operations, news agency AFP quoted its members as saying on Saturday.
It is being told that rescue teams from Florida and Virginia are returning home this weekend.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department’s rescue team is also ending its stint in Venezuela after finding no signs of life in its latest search operation.
Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez presented medals to the international teams, including their rescue dogs, in a clear sign that rescue operations were packing up.
Venezuela “is grappling with the enormous grief our people are experiencing, where families are still hoping to find their loved ones alive, people who have lost everything,” Rodríquez said.
Rodriguez defends government response to earthquake disaster
Venezuela’s acting president has strongly rejected allegations that his government’s response to the earthquake was too slow.
Many Venezuelans have expressed anger, saying families spent crucial early hours on their own searching for their relatives.
Civilians searching the debris along with international aid organizations say aid such as food and medical supplies are being delayed and there is a persistent shortage of heavy machinery to clear the debris.
Rodríguez defended his government’s response, saying that thousands of soldiers and officers had been deployed.
On Saturday, workers with heavy machinery were beginning to demolish collapsed structures in La Guaira.
“We are still working, still looking for bodies. We are still going. It is not easy,” Venezuelan volunteer Francisco Saskia told AFP.
“We found two bodies which have already been handed over to their families,” he said.
According to official figures, more than 16,000 people are homeless. Some are currently housed in official shelters and others in tented camps.
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko
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