Four days after Venezuela's deadliest earthquake in over a century, rescuers pull survivors from rubble and hospitals remain overwhelmed
Nearly four days after a catastrophic earthquake struck Venezuela, rescue teams pulled a man and his teenage son alive from the debris, as the official death toll surpassed 1,400 and over 50,000 remain missing.
Nearly four days after the strongest earthquake to hit Venezuela in more than a century, the country is slowly trying to return to a fragile normalcy while the scale of the tragedy continues to mount.
The human toll
Authorities have confirmed at least 1,450 deaths and around 3,300 injuries, though these figures are provisional. Over 50,000 people are listed as missing, feared buried beneath collapsed apartment blocks and buildings along the central coast and in the capital. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports that 1.8 million people, including 680,000 children, are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. The damage is especially acute in La Guaira state, where a preliminary satellite analysis indicates nearly a third of buildings in the assessed area of Catia La Mar suffered damage.
- Confirmed dead
- 1450 people
- Injured
- 3300 people
- Missing
- 50000 people
Rescue efforts
International search-and-rescue teams, including American and French contingents, continue to work around the clock. On Sunday, four days after the quake, a man and his teenage son were extracted alive from the rubble in Caraballeda. In another rare success, an 18-day-old newborn was found unharmed. Yet the search is agonisingly slow. More than 130 significant aftershocks, part of a sequence of over 300 tremors, have repeatedly halted operations. In some neighbourhoods, residents dig with their bare hands, lacking heavy machinery and overwhelmed by the scale of destruction.
Transport and logistics
The Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía had both runways disabled. One was reopened on Saturday after US coordination, allowing C-17 military transport planes to deliver field hospitals equipped with operating theatres. The second runway remains cracked and inoperative. In the capital, metro services and major roads have been partially restored. Transport Minister Jacqueline Faría said operations resumed after safety inspections of tracks, tunnels and automated systems.
Overwhelmed healthcare system
Hospitals in Caracas and La Guaira are at breaking point, according to Médecins Sans Frontières. At least two medical facilities collapsed during the tremors. There are critical shortages of antibiotics, anaesthetics and intravenous solutions. The MSF programme director for Venezuela, Andreas Spaett, described the scene in La Guaira:
It looked like a war zone. I have seen many in my career with MSF, but this was exactly that. When we left the hospital, a truck arrived carrying several bodies.
MSF has been distributing emergency trauma kits, painkillers and dressing materials. The government activated a website, localizapacientes.com, which had registered over 2,500 patients by Friday to help families locate loved ones.
International aid
A first UNICEF flight has arrived with 20 tonnes of medical supplies, water purification items, hygiene kits and tents. The US Southern Command has deployed helicopters and medical teams. Aid workers continue to face severe access challenges; journeys that normally take 45 minutes stretch to more than four hours as thousands of motorcyclists and volunteers clog the roads trying to deliver help.
