CARACAS, Venezuela\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The death toll from twin earthquakes in Venezuela was approaching 1,000 Friday as relief workers from across the globe arrived to search for survivors trapped in the rubble and provide desperately needed assistance to a reeling nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cTime is the enemy,\u201d said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone. \u201cWe want to immediately begin trying to locate people who are still alive and we can dig out.\u201d<\/p>\n
L.A. County dispatched a 73-person contingent to Venezuela, including search-and-rescue teams, canine units, doctors and structural experts, Marrone said in a telephone interview from California.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of humanitarian responders from at least 16 countries were descending on the quake-stricken nation. The Pentagon said it was sending aid by air and sea.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Southern Command \u201cis moving quickly to bring unmatched airlift, logistics and life-saving capabilities of the U.S. military to \u2026 support the nation of Venezuela during this crisis,\u201d the command said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Some 250 soldiers, 18 rescue dogs and other aid were sent by Mexico, a nation with vast experience in earthquake relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always lend a hand in the face of tragedy,\u201d Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday.<\/p>\n
Other nations providing aid included El Salvador, Spain, Chile, Italy, France, Argentina, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n
Meantime, the grim roster of fatalities and injured was expanding.<\/p>\n
The number of confirmed dead climbed Friday to at least 920, said Jorge Rodr\u00edguez, president of the National Assembly, and more than 3,300 were injured. More than 1,400 structures have been damaged or destroyed. Thousands are homeless, many camped out on streets.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, hundreds of people remained missing, leading to a wave of anguish among relatives and friends. Venezuelans were posting names and pictures of the missing on social media sites in the hope that someone may know their whereabouts.<\/p>\n
Many of the missing are believed to be buried amid the wreckage that stretches across a wide swath of the country, from Caracas, the capital, to the northern state of La Guaira \u2014 the hardest-hit zone, along the Caribbean Sea, 20 miles north of the capital.<\/p>\n
Before-and-after satellite footage of La Guaira reveal a stunning spectacle: Piles of rubble now occupy scores of sites that once housed high-rise buildings, shops, homes and other structures. <\/p>\n
A little more than a quarter-century ago, La Guaira was the site of the nation\u2019s worst recorded natural disaster: The flash floods of 1999 that triggered massive mudslides and debris flows, burying entire neighborhoods and towns. Thousands died, according to estimates, though officials never declared an official fatality count.<\/p>\n
The twin quakes \u2014 with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 \u2014 struck the nation within 39 seconds just after 6 p.m on Wednesday. The temblors \u2014 with epicenters about 100 miles west of Caracas \u2014 were the deadliest to hit Venezuela in almost a century.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Venezuelans welcomed the arrival of foreign aid workers, who were seen digging through the vast piles of collapsed concrete. But the outside help also highlighted a sobering reality: The government\u2019s inability to deal with the tragedy. The scope of the catastrophe quickly overwhelmed a country of 28 million battered by years of economic crisis and political tumult.<\/p>\n
Much of the early work of recovery was left to ordinary citizens. Throughout the earthquake zone, people without any proper equipment have been seen pulling victims from jagged piles of masonry and rebar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worst nightmare is knowing that the government wasn\u2019t prepared for this,\u201d said Lucy Fern\u00e1ndez, 65, a resident of Caracas. \u201cWe don\u2019t have rescue workers. We don\u2019t have the necessary tools. We don\u2019t have the money. There is nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Venezuela\u2019s massive military apparatus appeared largely absent during the crucial hours following the quakes \u2014 a fact that, critics say, reflects the fragmented and chaotic state of affairs in much of the government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an armed forces without leadership and without a clear operational capacity,\u201d said Carlos Calatrava, a political analyst at Andr\u00e9s Bello Catholic University in Caracas. \u201cWhen this happened, there was no technical operational capacity, much less leadership\u2014and a minimum of infrastructure and communications to coordinate humanitarian assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tragedy has become a major challenge for the interim government of President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, who took office in January after U.S. special forces swooped into Caracas and arrested her predecessor, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, and his wife, and flew them to New York to face drug-trafficking and other charges. The couple has denied the allegations.<\/p>\n
Many Venezuelans have expressed disappointment with what they view as a lack of economic and political progress since Rodr\u00edguez assumed the presidency, with the support of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
Residents of La Guaira, ground zero of the calamity, said food and water remained in short supply, despite the massive aid effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stores are all closed,\u201d lamented Maria Elena Rivas, 55, mother of three, all of whom survived. \u201cThe help never arrives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortages of medicines, bread and other items were also evident at pharmacies and shops in Caracas, even as restaurant workers and civilians were gathering food and other essentials to be donated to the people of La Guaira.<\/p>\n
Mogoll\u00f3n, a special correspondent reported from Caracas and McDonnell, a Times staff writer, reported from Mexico City. Special correspondent Cecilia S\u00e1nchez Vidal, in Mexico City, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CARACAS, Venezuela\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The death toll from twin earthquakes in Venezuela was approaching 1,000 Friday as relief workers from across…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":895211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[31237,362750,1582,276,110281,9958,5208,454,362749,4572,2961,224,5337,2222,1245,3546,97309,6003,32322,221338],"class_list":["post-895210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-aid","tag-aid-worker","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-caracas","tag-country","tag-friday","tag-government","tag-guaira","tag-hundred","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-mexico","tag-nation","tag-people","tag-pile","tag-tragedy","tag-venezuela","tag-venezuelans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116819055754647599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}