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CARACAS.- More than 24 hours after the two powerful earthquakes almost consecutive that shook Wednesday Venezuela, There are already 235 dead and more than 4,300 injuredwhile hundreds of people still remain trapped between debris.
The interim president of the country, Delcy Rodriguezconfirmed a first balance that later expanded over the hours. On Thursday night, state television channels, citing sources from the Venezuelan Ministry of Health, updated the figure to more than 200 fatalities.
“Unfortunately, we receive around 235 patients who arrive without vital signs or die upon arrival. “in our health facilities and that we have been caring for them and their families,” the Minister of Health later said, Carlos Alvarado.
The tremors, 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scalethey left dozens of destroyed buildings and cities without lightin a panorama of total destruction.
In the midst of this context of destruction, anguish and confusion, on Thursday at noon a group of people looted at least one commercial store in a coastal area of Venezuela, a team from the AFP.
In the town Catia la Marlocated in the coastal town of La Guaira neighbor with Caracasmen and women left with bags full of products from a half-burned food business, according to the same source.
Regarding the consequences of the catastrophe, Some 250 buildings are damaged and there are at least 2,927 families affectedconfirmed the head of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez.
In this context, on the unofficial website Venezuela Earthquake Missing Around 50,000 people were reported not to have been located, while more than 7,800 have already been located.
Destruction
A team of the AFP in an area close to Caracas observed dozens of collapsed or severely damaged buildings. There was no light and people were in the streets or I was looking for family members in the rubble. Hundreds of people woke up near evacuated buildings.
“We have nothing, right now we have nothing, not even strength, nor courage to get in there, imagine,” he said. Larry Rojas49, in front of a collapsed building under which his family is trapped.
He first earthquake of magnitude 7.2 It occurred at 6:04 p.m. local time with its epicenter 21 kilometers west of Morón, in the north of the country, said the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
Almost a minute later, a few kilometers away, another stronger one of magnitude was recorded. 7.5, the most powerful to hit Venezuela since 1900, according to USGS data. “It was terrible, it was terrible. Everything, everything collapsed, everything, everything,” said Yilsmaris Blanco, a 39-year-old resident of La Guaira.
“We thank God because we are alive, but there are people who are suffering with their family members boarded up, with their family members trampled on who cannot get them out,” he added.
Such was the power of these earthquakes that they were felt even in Colombiawhere some alarms sounded, according to what the AFP.
“Disaster zone”
Delcy Rodriguez reported that there was “dozens of collapsed buildings.” “We are currently engaged in very arduous rescue work to save the lives that God allows us to save,” he stated in a message to the country.
His interim government decreed the state of emergency throughout the territory and declared La Guaira a “disaster zone”.
In the streets of that coastal area, the population asked for help and mobilized to try to rescue those who were trapped.
The tremors also damaged part of the facilities of the airport international of Maiquetiawhich serves the Venezuelan capital and closed due to damage. The air terminal is closed “due to serious damage to its infrastructure,” Rodríguez said.
The Venezuelan Minister of the Interior, the Chavista Diosdado Hair, urged people to stay outside, as the replicas They could further damage structures, and many people were left on the streets for hours; others spent the night in parked cars, subway stations and other public places.
In Caracas Subway and natural gas services were suspended. Classes will also be canceled for several days.
Rayner PeÒa R – EFE
The lack of cell phone signal in parts of the country aggravated the anguish of many familiesparticularly those among the more than 7.7 million people who left Venezuela during its prolonged crisis and who had difficulty communicating with family members within the country. Dozens of people took to social media to ask for help. to find loved ones, posting photos of missing family members and their last known location.
According to sources from the Argentine Foreign Ministry, THE NATIONthe authorities are in contact with the Venezuelan government and so far there are no reports of Argentines among those affected.
US deploys aid
Subsequently, the US State Department reported that the President Trump’s administration mobilized an emergency response to Venezuela that includes $150 million in humanitarian assistance, the deployment of a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) and two specialized urban search and rescue teams.
FEDERICO PARRA – AFP
A general from the United States Southern Command went to Caracas last night to “supervise” Washington’s support, the US army indicated.
The greatest general of the Marines Kevin J. JarrardSouthcom’s top representative on the ground, “is working closely with partners to plan, coordinate and direct” US military operations to save lives and provide “humanitarian assistance in affected areas”.
In parallel, most of the Latin American countries, including the Argentinaas well as Spain, Germany, Italy, China, India and the European Unionexpressed their solidarity and have already deployed humanitarian aid.
What is the Boconó fault?
The seismic movements recorded this Wednesday in Venezuela reintroduced the so-called Boconó fault: a considerable geological fracture of about 500 kilometers in length located in western Venezuela.
According to the Venezuelan Foundation for Seismological Research (Funvisis), this fault acts as the main continental boundary between the Caribbean plate and the South American Plateand crosses the Venezuelan Andes from the Táchira depression to the Caribbean Sea, near Morón; this last one epicenter of the recent earthquakes.
Due to its length and high sliding rate, The Boconó fault is constantly monitored by Funvisis. This formation was the main source of large destructive earthquakes in that Andean region, recorded in 1610 and 1894.
Finding yourself inside this fault, Venezuela is frequently shaken by tremors. The strongest earthquakes in recent times were those in Cariaco (northeast) in 1997, which caused 73 deaths, and that in Caracas in 1967, with 236 deaths.
