After four days of emergency due to earthquakes occurred in Venezuela, in La Guaira, the most affected state and neighbor of Caracas, rescuers from the United States, Peru, El Salvador, Germany and Switzerland continue to remove bodies, but also living people.
In Caribe, a police official, who asked not to be named, said that a person was rescued around 3:00 pm on Sunday, June 28, 2026.
In the area, a team of rescuers from the United States, Switzerland and El Salvador, together with Venezuelan firefighters, were trying to rescue a child alive, according to signs of screams they heard and the tracking of dogs trained for these tasks.
This was confirmed by Meredith Pool, from the American group Gideon Rescue, and Venezuelan firefighters.
At the scene, John Boquett, lieutenant colonel of the Caracas Fire Department, explained to EFE that the complexity of this type of rescue lies in the fact that there is little space and hand tools and not heavy machinery have to be used.
As they dig, rescuers place wooden supports to stabilize the structure and prevent collapses that could put their safety at risk.
“The temperature complicates operations”
In Corales, Javier Erken, part of the group of 40 Peruvian firefighters who arrived in Venezuela on June 26, 2026, told EFE that they rescued a 60-year-old woman who had been trapped in a six-story building.
The Peru team brought a dog that barks or sits to identify dead or alive people in this coastal state, where Erken emphasizes that the temperature makes the search for survivors and recovery of bodies uncomfortable.
“What is differentiating here (in La Guaira), and what is affecting us a lot, is the temperature. The temperature complicates operations, first due to the dehydration of the personnel; the second is the rapid decomposition of the corpses,” Erken stressed.
The smell of death is so intense in some parts that it can even be perceived with masks, in a context of collapsed, burned, uninhabitable buildings evacuated by destruction.
The Peruvian rescuer was positive about the possibility of rescuing people still alive, despite the fact that almost 100 hours have passed since earthquake: “One thing is what theory says and another is what experience says.”
In the same area, the head of the Brazilian rescue mission that arrived in Venezuela on June 26, 2026, Armin Braun, told EFE that starting this Monday, June 28, a Brazilian Navy field hospital will operate with 48 people to provide care.
Apart from this number, they also have 80 Brazilians as search and rescue personnel for a total of 128 Brazilians on missions in La Guaira.
In this state, the epicenter of the devastation, rescuers, survivors and a large number of military and police from different institutions that control the land routes converge.
The figures
Thousands of motorcycles make so much noise that, from time to time, officials ask them to turn off the engines to hear the possible screams of survivors under the rubble.
In recent days, looting has occurred in numerous businesses in La Guaira, so much so that you can read the message “It has already been looted” on signs or graffiti outside several businesses.
The shops remain closed or destroyed and the little sales there are are from informal workers who have drinks or automobile oil stands.
In the midst of the emergency, there is little clarity about the figures. Presidential Press reported on June 28 that “so far” at least 33 people have been rescued, but did not specify the period.
Likewise, the Government reported that there are almost 1,500 dead and 3,150 injured since the two earthquakes that shook the country on June 24, 2026. However, this last figure has decreased in the week, since in previous days the Minister of Health, Carlos Alvarado, had reported about 4,300 injured.
