The rare double strike, 39 seconds apart, was the strongest since 1900, according to the US Geological Survey. Nearly 50,000 people are missing and at least 589 have died after magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes rocked Venezuela and its capital Caracas on Thursday. The USGS has predicted more than 10,000 deaths.
Photographer Manu Quintero, speaking from Caracas, described scenes of ‘building after building collapsing’. Videos showed terrified people fleeing violently-shaking areas while buildings were reduced to rubble. Thousands have been left homeless.
“Nearly 50,000 missing after twin magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes devastate Venezuela.”
Interim president Delcy Rodriguez declared La Guaira, a coastal state adjoining Caracas, a ‘disaster zone’. The city’s airport is out of action after suffering damage captured on video.
Yamileth Jiminez, who lives in La Guaira city, said her 19-year-old son is trapped under the debris of their seven-storey block of flats. ‘He’s under the slabs and there’s no machinery to get him out,’ she said. People have been digging through wreckage with their bare hands while teams of helpers have been carrying water, food and medicine across the Caracas-La Guaira highway.
Pedro Perez, 64, who owns an upholstery workshop, said: ‘We lost everything. We have no food or medicines. We hope help arrives quickly.’
Rescue missions continue as the scale of the catastrophe becomes clearer.