Two Earthquakes Kill 1,430 in Venezuela, Leave Tens of Thousands Missing

Two earthquakes struck Venezuela, killing 1,430 people and injuring 3,238 others, according to official figures reported by The BBC. Tens of thousands remain missing, and hundreds of buildings collapsed across the country. In the coastal state of La Guaira, one apartment block fell with at least eight people inside, including Andreina Valerio’s almost two-year-old son Santiago, her partner Ramsés Mendoza, and several of his relatives.

A nine-year-old boy named Lucas and a three-year-old girl named Aranza were also trapped in the same building. Andreina Valerio returned from work to find the structure in ruins. Her brother-in-law Samuel Mendoza searched the debris by hand.

The morning after the quakes, Samuel said he heard a woman’s voice calling for help. The next day Andreina heard a baby crying and said she still believed her son was alive. Rescue teams from El Salvador and Spain arrived at the site on Saturday but could not enter the rubble.

No one had been extracted from the building by that point. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez said teams from ten nations were expected later the same day and that 14,000 police and military personnel had been deployed to the state, which she described as “militarised” for safety. More than 1,400 structures were affected in La Guaira alone.

Electricity had been restored to 60 percent of the region, Delcy Rodríguez added. At a Caracas hospital that received at least 600 injured patients from La Guaira, most had fractures and some suffered panic attacks. A list of the dead and those being treated was posted outside the facility.