{"id":4135,"date":"2026-06-26T08:06:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T08:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=4135"},"modified":"2026-06-26T08:06:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T08:06:18","slug":"neighbors-dig-through-venezuela-rubble-to-search-for-loved-ones-after-2-deadly-earthquakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=4135","title":{"rendered":"Neighbors dig through Venezuela rubble to search for loved ones after 2 deadly earthquakes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) \u2014 In cities across northern Venezuela, neighbors helped each other dig through rubble to search for loved ones on Thursday after back-to-back earthquakes that officials say killed more than 230 people and left thousands injured the night before.<\/p>\n

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The official death toll rose to around 235 late Thursday, with at least 4,300 people injured, Venezuela Health Minister Carlos Alvarado told state media. The number of casualties is expected to climb with thousands reported missing and frantic rescue efforts continuing.<\/p>\n

The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday evening were among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and was felt throughout the region. <\/p>\n

The injured were pulled out covered in dust and blood, among them children and animals. Venezuelan state TV showed dramatic images of rescues, including a woman who was trapped under a cement slab with only a bare foot poking out before rescuers slid her out alive. But few government search teams were initially seen outside Caracas.<\/p>\n

The coastal region of La Guaira, north of the capital Caracas, suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties. The country\u2019s main airport is there and was closed due to damage, complicating aid efforts.<\/p>\n

Venezuelans reeling from quakes<\/h3>\n

Many were stunned Thursday morning as they saw buildings reduced to skeletons, furniture hanging out of windows and helicopters circling overhead. Buildings were flattened and streets cracked open.<\/p>\n

Families posted missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched. Venezuelans abroad struggled to make contact with relatives due to interrupted phone service in the country. <\/p>\n

In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots and other open spaces.<\/p>\n

Mother of three Dayana Delgado asked where the heavy machinery was that government officials had promised and said residents were the ones digging through crumpled buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to know where my child is, if he\u2019s trapped or in a shelter,\u201d she said of her missing 8-year-old son. <\/p>\n

One mother sobbed and collapsed in grief as the bodies of her 3- and 10-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and carried away. Others screamed the names of the missing. Some stood in silent shock.<\/p>\n

Venezuelan authorities said they were diverting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which is no stranger to natural disasters: A 1999 mudslide killed thousands and is considered one of the country\u2019s worst natural disasters.<\/p>\n

In La Guaira, Cristian Carre\u00f1o stared at his charred apartment building tilting precariously to one side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lost everything,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn\u2019t get out. It\u2019s incredibly devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Menda\u00f1o climbed through wreckage in La Guaira and past a dead body when he spotted a woman who was trapped and signaling with her hand for help. <\/p>\n

\u201cMay God rescue her as quickly as possible,\u201d Menda\u00f1o said. \u201cWhen we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Government and rescuers face huge challenges<\/h3>\n

The natural disaster is the latest challenge for acting President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the capture and removal from power of then-President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro by the United States. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodr\u00edguez represents. <\/p>\n

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Rodr\u00edguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes.<\/p>\n

She appealed to businesses Thursday to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to rescue as many living people as possible,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez said.<\/p>\n

While Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Geological Survey said both earthquakes were centered near Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas. <\/p>\n

The one-two punch of the quakes, combined with the shallow seismic movements, amplified the destruction, said Marcos Ferreira, a geophysicist and researcher at the Geological Survey of Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is as if I am screaming and then someone starts screaming, too. That amplifies the vibration and adds to the potential hazard,\u201d Ferreira said.<\/p>\n

Shortly after United Nations officials in Venezuela called on the government to lift social media restrictions so people can get potentially life-saving information, Venezuelans in the country were able to access X. The site had been blocked by Maduro since August 2024 in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information among those who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential election.<\/p>\n

Foreign governments offer assistance<\/h3>\n

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke to Rodr\u00edguez following the quake, said the United States was immediately deploying assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a whole-of-government response. It\u2019ll be big; it\u2019ll be fast; and it\u2019ll be effective,\u201d Rubio said, while acknowledging the closure of Venezuela\u2019s main airport near Caracas created logistical challenges<\/p>\n

Venezuelan public television showed the arrival of rescue workers and aid from Chile at a military base in Aragua state early Friday, while the Swiss Foreign Ministry said a team of 80 specialists and eight search dogs was expected to arrive later Friday morning. Turkey announced two flights will leave Istanbul on Friday with military, medical and rescue personnel and a pair of search dogs. Leaders from Qatar, Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Canada also vowed to send assistance. <\/p>\n

Rescue teams from El Salvador and the Dominican Republic arrived in Venezuela on Thursday, along with rescuers and material aid from Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo country is prepared to provide the response that\u2019s needed. That\u2019s what neighboring countries are there for,\u201d Dominican Air Force Major Carlos Olivares said.<\/p>\n

The Venezuelan diaspora also was helping. In Ecuador, F\u00e9lix Rodr\u00edguez said his store was receiving donations from his fellow Venezuelans as well as Ecuadorians. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy business is always ready for whatever Venezuela needs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gabby Graham said she regularly sends money from Spokane, Washington, to Venezuela using a peer-to-peer payment to a local business that gives cash to her family. But since the earthquakes they can\u2019t locate the business owner and she is unable to share funds for food, water, medication and toiletries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it hasn\u2019t been easy for them for years. Just now it\u2019s just even worse because it\u2019s about finding these things,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press journalists Gabriela Molina in Quito, Ecuador, Regina Garcia Cano in Bogota, Colombia, Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo, Anna-Catherine Brigida and India Grant in Mexico City, Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Clara Preve in Buenos Aires, Alexandra Olson in New York, Julie Watson in San Diego and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

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