More Than 20 Countries Send Rescue Teams and Sniffer Dogs to Venezuela
More Than 20 Countries Send Rescue Teams and Sniffer Dogs to Venezuela
More than 20 countries have deployed search-and-rescue teams and specially trained sniffer dogs to Venezuela to assist with ongoing disaster response efforts.
International crews are working alongside local emergency personnel to search for survivors trapped beneath collapsed buildings, deliver humanitarian aid, and support recovery operations
The ground shook once again Friday afternoon, a weaker 4.9 temblor that was felt in the capital Caracas and nearby Maracay.
Frustration mounted over the uneven pace of relief in some of the hardest-hit areas including La Guaira state, where residents and volunteers were still digging through rubble by hand amid shortages of heavy equipment and limited official presence.
Jennifer Palacios, 25, said her 6-year-old son and five other relatives remained buried in La Guaira city’s eight-tower Hugo Chavez housing complex.
“It’s the community that has managed to get people out alive,” she said. “We need them to bring cranes to move the slabs. There are still people trapped.”
EYES ON LA GUAIRA
The disaster could have political consequences for interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who has sought to portray herself as an agent of political change even though she served as vice president to the ousted Nicolas Maduro.
A U.N. report estimated direct damage from the two quakes, magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, at about $6.7 billion. The second quake was Venezuela’s most powerful in more than a century.
EYES ON LA GUAIRA
Reuters witnesses traveled along highways cracked by the quakes and passed dozens of buildings reduced to broken concrete and twisted metal. Some ruins were spray-painted with building names to help rescuers identify locations.
Volunteers ferried supplies on motorcycles from Caracas and Valencia.
Despite initially thanking the volunteers, Rodriguez and other officials later told people to stay away from La Guaira city because clogged roads were making rescue operations more difficult. They announced roads would be closed starting at 8 p.m. (midnight GMT) except to official and registered response teams.
