Rescue teams raced against time on Sunday to search for more survivors following the two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela earlier this week, while the death toll from the twin quakes that hit on Wednesday approached 1,500 people.
Foreign rescue teams continued arriving in La Guaira State, the region hardest hit by the disaster in a country that has long been grappling with a deep political and economic crisis.
Dozens of buildings collapsed into piles of sand and rubble in the coastal state, located about 40 kilometers north of Caracas.
Interim President Delcy Rodríguez said, after announcing the formation of a presidential commission to assess the safety and habitability of buildings, that rescue and recovery operations remain ongoing.
“Rescue and recovery efforts are continuing. Today (Sunday), people were pulled from the rubble alive, and therefore operations will not be suspended. We always remain hopeful,” she said.
Rodríguez, speaking alongside several ministers, added that schools would remain closed for another week and that electricity service in La Guaira had been restored to 75 percent of the state.
Reuters
