By Vivian Sequera
LAGUAIRA/CARACAS, June 27 (Reuters) – The death toll from Venezuela’s devastating twin earthquakes rose above 1,400 on Saturday as foreign rescue teams poured into the country and authorities pressed on with the search for survivors in the hardest-hit coastal areas.
The updated toll came as rescuers fanned out across La Guaira and parts of Caracas, where families and volunteers have spent days pulling survivors and bodies from the rubble, often complaining of scant heavy equipment and a limited official presence.
Officials said more than 1,600 foreign rescuers had arrived and that additional teams were on the way, adding to a growing international response to the twin quakes that struck on Wednesday and unleashed hundreds of aftershocks.
In Caraballeda, one of the worst-hit areas of La Guaira, U.S. helicopters ferried rescue teams into a dusty landing zone, according to Reuters witnesses, dropping off crews before taking off again.
Among the crowds of volunteers was Alejandro Serrano, a 33-year-old industrial engineer who had traveled from San Cristobal in western Venezuela searching for his 24-year-old sister, Ana Serrano, who lived in the Bahía Mar building in Caraballeda, which was destroyed in the quakes.
Serrano said he searched Thursday night at Caracas’ Perez Carreno Hospital, but did not find her. He said he had given his sister’s details and the address to rescue teams from Argentina and El Salvador.
“I hope they don’t find her” in the rubble, he said, meaning he hoped she was still alive. “But I need to find her.”
SLEEPING IN THE STREET
Residents said the response in some areas had been uneven, though heavy machinery was working in parts of Caraballeda and Los Corales by Saturday.
In the small Los Corales area known as Valle del Pino, Beisy Rivas, 60, said five or six homes in her neighborhood were still standing but had been damaged.
“Since the night of the earthquakes, almost all the neighbors have been sleeping in the street because of the aftershocks,” she said. “My nerves are on edge, thinking about the dead and about the people who lost relatives.”
Nearby, Yendri Santana said some homes in her 30-house development had cracks in the walls, though no one there had died. Sitting on a curb with Rivas after collecting food donations from a truck, Santana said her sister had lost her small home but survived.
“It hurts to see people struggle so much only to lose everything,” she said.
Authorities continued to restrict access to La Guaira and maintained controls on the main road from Caracas, saying traffic was slowing emergency vehicles. Civilians not attached to official rescue teams needed credentials to pass checkpoints.
Power throughout the region was gradually returning. Venezuela’s power grid, crippled by years of underinvestment and economic sanctions, regularly experiences problems, leading to daily, hours-long blackouts in some regions.
55,000 MISSING
Although the government has said hundreds are missing or trapped, more than 55,000 people are listed as unaccounted for on a website promoted by the country’s opposition.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated more than 10,000 deaths were possible from the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, which would place them among Latin America’s deadliest of the last century.
The disaster could have political consequences for interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who has portrayed herself as an agent of change even though she served as vice president to Nicolas Maduro, who was ousted and arrested by the U.S. in January.
Pope Leo, speaking in Rome on Saturday, offered prayers for the victims, their families and those involved in relief operations, and said he hoped global solidarity with Venezuela would endure.
The U.S. has sent aid to Venezuela in the aftermath of the quakes. A senior U.S. administration official said on Saturday that a funding package worth hundreds of millions of dollars is expected to be announced within the next day or so, in addition to $150 million that the Trump administration has already committed.
A White House official also told Reuters that a renewed push by Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who left Venezuela late last year, for U.S. help to return home is frustrating senior officials in Washington, who said it was too soon after the disaster.
(Reporting by Vivian Sequera in La Guaira, additional reporting by Mayela Armas and Deisy Buitrago in Caracas, Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota, Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires and Karen J. Brettell in Washington, writing by Julia Symmes Cobb, editing by Alexander Smith, Alistair Bell, Chizu Nomiyama, Rod Nickel)
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