Thousands of people have been left homeless as rescue teams work through collapsed buildings in Caracas, a local journalist told RT.
Rescue teams in Venezuela are racing against time to find survivors trapped under rubble following two earthquakes that hit the country last week, although hopes for further rescues are fading, a local reporter told RT.
Two aftershocks of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 less than a minute apart killed at least 1,450 people, while nearly 70,000 others are still missing, according to official data.
Emergency workers continue to clear the rubble in Caracas, although the worst damage was registered in the coastal state of La Guaira, where all the buildings collapsed and major rescue operations are still underway.
“There is no chance that they will find survivors,” reporter Gladys Quesada said as rescue teams waded through the rubble of the collapsed apartment building. According to him, a 19-year-old woman was pulled alive from the ruins, while others stuck inside the building could not be rescued alive.
Authorities are meanwhile restoring basic services. People whose homes were destroyed have been evacuated to public squares, parks, and playgrounds because engineers deem many buildings unsafe to enter, according to the report.
“We can’t be close here,” one person said. “It could fall at any moment.”
The Venezuelan government has distributed more than 7,300 kilos of food, medicine and other aid. The Caracas Metro has reopened and almost 60% of electricity has been restored in La Guaira.
International rescue teams from China, Russia, Chile and El Salvador have joined the relief effort. Volunteers created online databases listing missing persons and survivors in an effort to reunite families inside and outside Venezuela, while officials provided daily updates on rescue and relief operations.
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