The death toll from Venezuela’s twin earthquakes has risen to at least 1,450, officials said, as rescue teams continued searching through collapsed buildings in La Guaira and other affected areas days after the disaster struck the country’s northern coast.
The two powerful earthquakes hit Venezuela on Wednesday evening, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, damaging buildings in coastal communities and the capital, Caracas. La Guaira, a coastal state north of Caracas, has been described as the hardest-hit area.
Jorge Rodriguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said the number of confirmed deaths had risen to 1,450. He also said more than 3,150 people had been injured, 12,721 had been displaced or otherwise affected, and 774 buildings had collapsed.
Rescue teams from Venezuela and abroad continued working through unstable debris over the weekend. Reuters reported that a father and son were pulled alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in La Guaira on Sunday, four days after the earthquakes. Their rescue followed another operation in which emergency workers recovered a mother and her nine-month-old baby alive.
Interim President Delcy Rodriguez said rescue efforts would continue while teams still believed survivors could be found. “Rescue and recovery efforts are ongoing,” she said, according to Reuters. “We always maintain hope.”
Authorities said at least 33 people were rescued over the weekend. International crews, including teams from France, the United States, Switzerland and other countries, have joined Venezuelan emergency workers in the search.
The number of missing people remains unclear. The Venezuelan government has referred to hundreds of people missing or trapped, while Reuters reported that an opposition-promoted website listed just under 50,000 people as unaccounted for on Sunday. That figure was down from about 55,000 a day earlier.
Officials have also been working to restore services in La Guaira. Rodriguez said electricity had been restored to about 75% of the state, while water and road access were also partly restored.
