Hope and discouragement converge in Venezuela, six days after the double earthquake that occurred last Wednesday that left at least 1,719 dead (19 Spaniards), mainly due to the collapse of numerous buildings, while the president in charge, Delcy Rodríguez, has promised new homes before the end of the year.
Faith barely persists after, according to what a doctor from the Venezuelan Institute of Social Security (IVSS) told EFE, rescuers found a survivor in a sector of the coastal state of La Guaira (north, adjacent to Caracas), the hardest hit, so he is confident that there are still “many lives under the rubble.”
The UN is coordinating more than 2,000 rescuers sent from 27 countries to search for survivors under the rubble after the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes on June 24.
The United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator for the South American country, Gianluca Rampolla, has indicated that 27 countries have deployed more than 40 search and rescue teams, which includes 160 dogs.
Governments of other countries reported or updated figures of their deceased compatriots, among whom there are 60 Portuguese, two Cubans and eleven Italians, as well as the wife and two children of the Argentine soccer player Lucas Trejo, who has managed to survive since he was training with his team in Caracas.
In addition, four Peruvians have been reported missing and two others will be evacuated to Peru, according to that country’s Foreign Ministry.
Regarding the Spanish victims, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has raised the death toll to 18 and has announced that tomorrow the Aecid Start Team (Spanish Technical Aid Response Team) and an emergency field hospital will fly to the Caribbean country.
Other victims
According to Caracas, the number of injured rose to 5,034, the number of people affected to 15,866 and the number of buildings affected to 855, of which “189 suffered a total collapse.”
To support the victims of the earthquakes, opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado planned to travel to Venezuela, but has denounced that the Rodríguez Government has closed commercial airspace to prevent her return to the country.
Machado has reported in a message spread on social networks that he is in Panama City and assured that he planned to return to his country to accompany those affected by the tragedy.
“The regime wants to block my return to Venezuela and that of thousands of compatriots who we want to go help,” said Machado, who has also denounced alleged obstacles in the distribution of food and medicine, as well as restrictions on international rescue teams and the work of journalists covering the emergency.
Reconstruction promise
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who has been in office for six months after the capture of Nicolás Maduro by the United States last January, has announced that the Ministry of Habitat and Housing “is developing projects for the construction of housing in the shortest possible time” and has assured that there are “thousands of solutions before the end of the year.”
The head of state has also reported meetings with experts and international organizations that are providing options for immediate housing solutions.
In addition, he said that engineers and architects are currently deployed in La Guaira, Miranda and Caracas to inspect the habitability of homes that were affected by Wednesday’s earthquakes.
According to a first rapid experimental evaluation carried out by NASA thanks to satellite images, the double earthquake in Venezuela could have left some 58,870 buildings damaged or destroyed throughout the affected region.
Unstoppable solidarity
The oil country, briefly shaken on Monday morning by a new earthquake that, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), was of magnitude 4.6, has continued to receive help from the international community.
The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, has guaranteed that his country will continue to be at the side of the Venezuelan people, and the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, has reported that she is preparing to send more humanitarian aid to care for the affected population.
The Dutch Government has sent a ship to Venezuela, which departed from Curacao, with emergency aid that includes food and drinking water, while the European Commission announced that it will allocate five million euros in aid and will send the country a plane with 50 tons of material to provide shelter and medical assistance.
For its part, Bolivia has reported the authorization of a Hercules plane that will transport 20 rescuers and six tons of aid, while Ecuador hopes to be able to send one plane per day this week with the humanitarian aid it is collecting in nine centers installed in various provinces of the country.
China has announced the sending of emergency material aid worth 100 million yuan (about 14.7 million dollars).
