Venezuela quake death toll rises to 920 as international aid rushes in
Hospitals, airports and power lines buckled as the death toll climbed to 920, while rescuers from 17 countries raced toward hundreds still missing.
The death toll from Venezuela’s twin earthquakes rose to 920 on Friday, and survivors kept hauling the injured to hospitals in cars and pickup trucks as rescue workers searched for hundreds still missing. Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, put the number of injured at 3,360, as foreign rescue teams and medical units rushed toward the hardest-hit areas around Caracas and La Guaira.
The quakes struck on Wednesday, June 24, less than a minute apart, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5. The stronger shock was the most powerful to hit Venezuela in more than 125 years, and flattened buildings and continuing aftershocks left people likely trapped in Caracas and beyond.
At least eight hospitals, the Venezuelan Red Cross headquarters and the French embassy were badly damaged, Caracas airport was closed after suffering damage, and La Guaira was left with scarce electricity. At least 100 buildings had collapsed in La Guaira alone, where some 70,000 families were affected, and emergency teams were assessing health-facility damage and urgent needs including medicines, oxygen, fuel and medical supplies.
Search-and-rescue teams from at least 17 countries were being scrambled to Venezuela, and PAHO identified 21 international Emergency Medical Teams that could support the response, with three teams from Colombia, the United States and the Dominican Republic on standby. Two dozen countries were sending aid.
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