Venezuela Earthquake Death Toll Nears 1,500 as Rescue Efforts Continue

The death toll from twin earthquakes in Venezuela approached 1,500 on Sunday as rescue teams continued searching damaged and unstable buildings.The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck the country on June 26, just 39 seconds apart.Authorities have since recorded more than 430 aftershocks, complicating efforts to search damaged and unstable buildings.A father and son were pulled out alive from the rubble of a collapsed building on June 28.Rescue workers carried the pair, visibly weakened and ​both wearing masks, on improvised fabric stretchers through debris-strewn streets to ​a waiting ambulance, as a crowd gathered around the emergency vehicles ⁠in La Guaira.Their rescue came after 12 hours ​of efforts by teams that combed through the ruins using specialized search cameras, carefully working through unstable rubble to reach the trapped victims.Related Story“They are extremely weak, as any ​patient trapped under rubble for four days would be, so we are ​doing everything possible to rehydrate them and administer various medications during the extraction process, which ‌is ⁠moving very slowly,” said a member of the French Civil Security.The rescue team in that area includes members of the French Civil Security and American responders from the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Team in Virginia, who, the previous day, rescued a mother and ⁠her 9-month-old baby.At least 33 people were rescued over the weekend, though tens of thousands remain missingAccording to ⁠specialists, ​after 72 hours following an earthquake, the odds ​of finding victims alive beneath the rubble drop dramatically.The first 48 to 72 hours after an earthquake are generally considered to be the vital window for rescuing people alive, though survival is possible for longer periods if those trapped have access to air, water, and food.“Rescue and recovery efforts are ongoing. Today (Sunday) we have recovered people alive and, therefore, operations are not being suspended. We always maintain hope,” said Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez, after announcing a presidential commission that would determine the habitability of buildings.Rodriguez said school classes would be suspended for one more week and that the electricity supply in La Guaira had been restored to 75 percent.Just under 50,000 people were listed as unaccounted for on the website Desaparecidos Terremoto Venezuela on June 29. The website allows Venezuelans to self-report missing loved ones.Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said on Saturday afternoon that more than 30,000 specialized Venezuelan personnel have been deployed to disaster zones, including rescue workers, medical and paramedical staff, and military personnel and police officers sent to help maintain order. They are working alongside more than 2,000 rescuers from 21 countries.The United Nations agency for children UNICEF estimated on Sunday that approximately 1.8 million people, including 680,000 children, are in need of humanitarian assistance following the earthquakes in Venezuela.It said that an estimated 6.76 million people, including approximately 2 million in Caracas, could be affected by the June 24 earthquakes, with preliminary satellite analysis indicating that 31.5 per cent of buildings in only one location, Catia La Mar, have been damaged.A June 29 post on deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s X account said the Venezuelan people, “with their spiritual and human strength, face this terrible tragedy caused by the seismic force of nature with greatness, faith, love, and hope.”“May prayer accompany the rescue and may unity open the path to reconstruction,” it added.Maduro was captured by a U.S. raid in Caracas with his wife, Cilia Flores, in January and was transferred to New York.He is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn while awaiting trial on U.S. narcoterrorism and drug-trafficking charges.Reuters and Bill Pan contributed to this report.