Thousands missing as rescue teams search Venezuela quake rubble

Rescuers were still digging through collapsed buildings and rubble in Caracas and nearby cities on Friday after twin earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck Venezuela 39 seconds apart, killing at least 235 people and injuring about 4,300. Thousands more were missing as search crews worked across a disaster zone that stretched far beyond the capital.

The quakes were among the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century. Damage was widespread in and around Caracas and in places including La Guaira, Moron and San Felipe in Yaracuy. The U.N. humanitarian affairs office had mobilized 25 international teams, with about 1,000 personnel in all, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was deploying search teams, medical resources and humanitarian aid.

Venezuela’s economy and health system were already stretched before the quakes.

At the same time, the Supreme Court handed the federal government a separate ruling on how Venezuelans and other asylum seekers reach the United States. In a 6-3 decision in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, the court held that a person standing on the Mexico side of the border has not yet arrived in the United States for purposes of asylum law, clearing the way for the revival of metering, a policy that limits how many people may approach ports of entry each day.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. The case began with a 2017 challenge by asylum seekers and Al Otro Lado, and the ruling reverses a lower court decision that had blocked the practice.