The 96-hour window for finding survivors passed on Sunday evening, but British search and rescue teams in Venezuela are still digging through the rubble with the same intensity as day one. At least 1,700 people are known to have died in the twin earthquakes that devastated the country last week, with the number expected to rise. In many areas, residents have been left to search through the rubble themselves in the absence of significant government help.
Lee Ivory, deputy national coordinator for UK International Search and Rescue (UK ISAR), is helping to coordinate the international effort from the UK. His colleagues on the ground are among dozens of foreign rescue teams working alongside locals. “We continue to conduct searches to the same level of detail as on day one,” Ivory told the BBC.
“British rescue teams continue searching for survivors in Venezuela despite the 96-hour window passing; death toll at least 1,700.”
The teams are armed with a range of techniques. Specially-trained search dogs can sniff out a person’s smell even when buried as far as 10 metres under rubble, letting out a “really strong and sustained bark” to alert rescuers. Ivory, who has been deployed to earthquakes in Haiti, Japan and Nepal, explains that the dogs are trained using toys imprinted with a human scent. When they locate a real person, they are given the toy as a reward. Search dogs also help navigate the technical parts of rescue, finding hard-to-reach paths through rubble to follow a scent or identify access points, says Sakthy Selvakumaran of the UK-based charity Search and Rescue Assistance in Disasters (SARAID).
One of the most effective methods, according to Ivory, is “by having a really good listen”. Rescuers shout into the rubble in the local language, listening for any reply. They also use seismic and acoustic listening devices – little pots or cans on wires linked to equipment – to try to locate survivors. The teams remain hopeful, despite the mounting odds, as the search continues with dogs, drones, and sound detectors across the shattered landscape.