The death toll from Venezuela’s twin earthquakes has risen to at least 1,450 as rescue workers struggle to save lives after a critical window for locating survivors closed.
National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez shared the updated death toll on Sunday, saying at least 3,150 people were injured in the back-to-back magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes that hit near the coastal area of La Guaira on Wednesday.
He said 12,721 people have been displaced and 774 buildings have collapsed.
Just under 50,000 people have been reported missing, and about 30,000 Venezuelan rescue workers and 2,700 foreign rescue experts have been searching for survivors.
The critical 72-hour window for rescuing trapped victims after a natural disaster passed late on Saturday. However, a handful of rescues on Sunday offered glimmers of hope.
“Today we have recovered people alive and, therefore, operations are not being suspended. We always maintain hope,” interim President Delcy Rodriguez said.
Those rescued included a 60-year-old woman pulled from the rubble of a building in the coastal area of Carabayida. She had been trapped for 86 hours.
In a post on X, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said rescue teams deployed by his country and Peru worked for 11 hours to rescue the woman.
She had been taken to a hospital in Caracas for treatment, and her condition remained “delicate”, he said.
“This achievement was made possible thanks to the effort and perseverance of our rescuers, who worked tirelessly throughout the night and early morning hours with the support of Peruvian USAR rescuers,” Bukele said, referring to Peru’s Urban Search and Rescue.
A United States rescue team from Virginia pulled a man and his son from the ruins on Sunday morning and carried them on a black tarpaulin into an ambulance, according to The Associated Press news agency.
US officials reported late on Saturday that an infant had been rescued from a collapsed building, and Colombian and Mexican officials said two 11-year-old boys were rescued in separate operations.
‘Still under the rubble’
President Rodriguez said at least 33 people had been rescued over the weekend and announced a presidential commission to determine the habitability of buildings. She said school operations would be suspended for another week and the electricity supply had been restored to 75 percent.
More than 14,000 members of the military and police were patrolling La Guaira state, where access was now blocked and special permits required to enter, the president said.
Criticism over the Venezuelan government’s response has mounted.
In one instance, residents blocked an excavator from leaving the site of a collapsed building and pulled the operator from its cabin shortly after state workers took selfies in front of flattened buildings, then left without helping, AP reported.
Standing outside a collapsed building in the Los Palos Grandes neighbourhood of Caracas, Al Jazeera’s Noris Soto said a Mexican rescue team was still hoping to find survivors as volunteers helped gather personal belongings scattered throughout the destruction.
“Here, at least 20 people are still under the rubble,” Soto said.
“You can see here how the rescuers, the international rescuers and the civilian volunteers, are the ones who are doing the job and facing this crisis,” she added.
Reporting from Catia La Mar in La Guaira, Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo said family members had marked several collapsed homes where they have been unable to recover the bodies of their loved ones.
“The relatives are waiting for them outside for their bodies to be retrieved,” Bo said.
She added that aid, including water and food, had only just started to reach the hard-hit area, where many residents continued to camp outside.
“What’s happening here is a major test for the international community,” Bo said.
She also described the disaster as a “big test” for the government of Rodriguez, who assumed the presidency after the US military’s abduction of President Nicolas Maduro in January.
Delcy Rodriguez has pledged to be an agent of change in a country that has long contended with overlapping economic and humanitarian crises. She has cooperated closely with US President Donald Trump’s administration.
Washington has sent rescue teams while pledging $150m to the earthquake response by the United Nations and humanitarian groups.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Sunday that the bloc had mobilised 5 million euros ($5.7m) in emergency assistance.
The EU’s Copernicus satellite system was helping map the damage and direct assistance to the areas most in need, she added.
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