With bare hands and without professional equipment, dozens of Venezuelans dug this Friday through the rubble of collapsed buildings in search of missing relatives, amid the shortage of government rescuers that has marked the state's response following the double earthquake on June 24.
The AP agency released a video that captures the heartbreaking testimony of one of those civilians turned rescuers.
"Horrible, we have seen too much and we are struggling to rescue the children in hopes of bringing them out alive. We managed to pull one out—it was three in total, but we got one out alive, thank God. However, we couldn't reach the others," the man recounted amidst the dust and debris, summarizing in a few words the anguish of thousands of Venezuelan families.
The toll of victims continued to rise throughout the day. In the afternoon, Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, raised the official count to 920 dead and more than 3,360 injured, as reported in a national broadcast.
"We must announce with sorrow, because they are our sisters and brothers, that 920 people have lost their lives due to the violent actions of the earthquakes on June 24," he declared.
The figure tripled the balance of Thursday, the 25th, when 164 deaths were recorded, and significantly surpassed the 589 deaths that Delcy Rodríguez had confirmed on the morning of that very Friday.
The magnitude of the disappeared is even more alarming. The UN had unverified figures of up to 50,000 missing, while the Newsweek platform reported 57,287 people unaccounted for as of Friday, of which 49,519 had no contact with their families.
The most devastated area is the state of La Guaira, declared a "disaster zone," where more than 100 buildings have collapsed.
In Caracas, at least two structures collapsed in the Chacao municipality, including the 14-story Petunia residential building and a Bancaribe building. In total, 383 buildings were significantly or completely affected, according to Jorge Rodríguez himself.
The regime deployed 11,500 members of the Bolivarian National Guard, the Armed Forces, the National Police, and the Militia to militarize La Guaira, a response that also aimed to curb the documented looting in the area.
However, the presence of professional rescuers with heavy machinery remained insufficient, which prompted civilians to act on their own.
International aid arrived simultaneously. Thirty urban search and rescue teams from at least 16 countries— including the United States, Spain, France, Germany, and Colombia— deployed 1,600 personnel and 100 search dogs.
The first U.S. military aircraft with elite rescuers landed this Friday in Venezuela, and Washington allocated 150 million dollars in humanitarian aid. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the critical window for locating survivors was 48 to 72 hours.
Amidst so much pain, there were moments of relief. Rescuers saved a woman trapped under the debris and described the scene with a phrase that encapsulated the hope of many: "We entered three and came out four." Additionally, three brothers were rescued alive from the Mansión Charaima building in Caraballeda, and a baby was pulled out unharmed by neighbors in a scene that went viral worldwide.
Tom Fletcher, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, described the situation as "truly terrifying devastation" and recalled that the organization was already assisting eight million Venezuelans before the earthquakes, which exponentially worsens the humanitarian impact of the disaster.
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