Amid clouds of dust and collapsed buildings, authorities in Venezuela are racing against time to locate people who remain trapped beneath the rubble.
According to authorities and the United Nations, more than 50,000 people remain unaccounted for, while residents are becoming increasingly desperate over what they describe as limited assistance from the state.
The situation is particularly severe in La Guaira, the coastal city near the capital, Caracas, where residents have criticised what they say is an inadequate government response to search and rescue operations.
The drone footage below captures the scale of the devastation left behind by the deadly earthquakes, with the death toll now exceeding 920.
Cries of anguish amid the ruins
In La Guaira, numerous buildings have been reduced to enormous piles of rubble. Residents and volunteers are making desperate efforts to locate survivors trapped beneath the debris.
They have appealed for equipment to cut through steel bars and move massive chunks of concrete, as the window for finding survivors rapidly narrows.
Marlon Ochoa survived the collapse of a building but is still searching for his loved ones.
“I’m looking for my mother, my wife and my son,” he said. “We need help! There are people alive,” he stressed, adding that rescuers “do not have the tools” required to pull them from the rubble.
International aid reaches affected areas
Nearly 48 hours after the two powerful earthquakes, rescue teams from 17 countries have arrived in the affected regions of Venezuela, where the healthcare system is on the verge of collapse.
The United States announced on Friday that it would deploy a 250-member mission to the disaster zone after providing $150 million in assistance and sending two warships, transport aircraft and helicopters to the region.
Rescue crews from El Salvador, Mexico, Colombia and Switzerland were among the first international teams to arrive in Venezuela.
Outside an apartment complex that was flattened in La Guaira, Chilean rescue team leader Nadiomar Polanco said there was, “unfortunately, very little hope of finding survivors.”
He added that his team was among the first to reach the site and is now focusing on locating and recovering “people who are already dead.”
Among the victims are at least 28 people of Portuguese descent, two Brazilians, one Italian-Venezuelan and two Chinese nationals. Spain has also confirmed the deaths of five of its citizens.
“The authorities are useless”
In La Guaira, home to the country’s main airport, which was forced to shut down following the earthquakes, some residents have begun digging through the rubble themselves in search of relatives.
“He’s there,” 23-year-old Alessandro del Giudice cried through tears as he searched for his father beneath a mountain of debris.
His grandmother, Amparo, was desperately digging with her bare hands in an attempt to find her son.
“There are too many concrete blocks. We can’t lift them with our hands,” she said exhaustedly.
“The authorities are useless… The military should be here with all the machinery they have,” said local resident Argenis Mendez.
Source: CNN.gr, France 24
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