Venezuela earthquake death toll rises to 589 as international rescue teams arrive

The death toll from two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela has risen to 589, with nearly 3,000 people injured, as international rescue teams poured into the country Friday to help search for survivors buried under rubble.

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez confirmed the latest figures as crews from Switzerland, Mexico, El Salvador and the Netherlands worked alongside local teams sifting through collapsed buildings in Caracas and the coastal state of La Guaira, where residents could still be heard calling for help from beneath the debris.

A woman was pulled alive from the rubble, offering a rare moment of hope amid the devastation.
The two quakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude, struck a minute apart Wednesday night. The second was the strongest to hit Venezuela since 1900.

A doctor in La Guaira told the BBC the state’s two main hospitals are “completely overwhelmed” and facing a critical shortage of medical supplies.

The Dutch contingent — 65 rescue workers and eight search dogs — departed Eindhoven Air Base Friday, according to the European Press Agency. UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said the disaster required a global response.
“I want people to know in Venezuela that help is coming,” Fletcher told BBC Radio 4.

Witnesses described chaotic scenes in the hours after the quakes, with roads blocked by rubble, mobile communications severed and no first responders visible in some areas. One man who had been on a family outing in La Guaira said neighbours took it upon themselves to dig out trapped relatives.

“All the neighbours were just trying to get their loved ones out of the rubble,” he said, adding that he did not learn his own family in Caracas was safe until six hours after the quakes struck. (Put together from information on BBC News)