Venezuela double earthquake death toll surpasses 4,300; 17,000 homeless as housing distribution set to start next week

Death toll climbs past 4,300

The official death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela on 24 June has risen to 4,333, according to a new figure released on 11 July by Jorge Rodriguez, the president of the National Assembly. The previous count, given on 10 July, had stood at 4,118, and the early official tally on Thursday (9 July) was 3,889. Rodriguez said the number of injured remains unchanged at 16,740.

The number of Venezuelans, men and women, who lost their lives directly from the terrible earthquakes of 24 June amounts to 4,333.

The latest update also reports that 17,000 people have been left homeless, and that 315 of the dead have yet to be identified. Fears persist that the final toll will increase further, as thousands are still unaccounted for.

Frantic search for the missing

With hopes of finding survivors now extinguished, hundreds of families continue to comb through the rubble in search of relatives' bodies. The earthquakes, measured at magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, caused extensive destruction, especially in the northern part of the country where hundreds of buildings collapsed or were declared uninhabitable.

International aid appeal

The United Nations issued a call on Wednesday (8 July) for donations to assist roughly 1.3 million people affected by the disaster. Caracas, for its part, is urging the release of Venezuelan assets frozen due to economic sanctions, arguing the funds are needed for the relief effort.

Reconstruction set to begin

Rodriguez told a press conference that the distribution of housing will start next week. The rebuilding effort will be most challenging in the northern regions that bore the brunt of the seismic shocks, with entire neighbourhoods reduced to ruins.