235 killed, 4,300 injured in powerful Venezuela quakes
At least 235 people have been killed and more than 4,300 others wounded in devastating back-to-back earthquakes in Venezuela.
Venezuelan Health Minister Carlos Alvarado announced the figures on Thursday as they are expected to rise with thousands reported missing or trapped beneath rubble after the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that hit the country’s northern coast on Wednesday evening.
“An extraordinary effort is underway nationwide. The highest number of injured and deceased is in La Guaira state,” he said in an interview on state television.
The coastal region of La Guaira, situated north of the Venezuelan capital Caracas, suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties.
Aerial footage captures the utter devastation caused across the northern Venezuelan coastal city of La Guaira following the earthquake.
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The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2 and a depth of 22 kilometers, struck west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers west of Caracas.
Just a minute later, USGS reported a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake, with a depth of 10 kilometers and an epicenter 16 kilometers southwest of Moron.
The twin quakes are among the strongest to rock Venezuela in more than a century.
Rescuers are searching for survivors under collapsed buildings before the “golden window,” the first 48 to 72 hours after the tremor, closes.
Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared a state of emergency and announced that the airport in Caracas was closed, trains were suspended and classes were canceled for the remainder of the week.
The natural disaster is just the latest challenge for Venezuela, which is facing economic disarray for more than a decade.
The Latin American country has also been grappling with a political crisis since January, when the US kidnapped President Nicolas Maduro following an illegal military assault.
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