The death toll of Venezuela’s worst earthquakes in more than a century has reached 920 – around quadruple the number of people reported dead on Thursday.
More than 51,000 are missing and the number of dead is expected to climb following twin earthquakes on Wednesday (24 June) of 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude, which struck seconds apart.
At least 3,360 people have been injured and 172 are believed still to be trapped under rubble, while authorities have rescued 243 people, according to the nation’s state TV.
The country’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez has vowed to fight to save “as many people as possible while they are still alive,” as rescue teams from around the world head to the country to hunt for survivors.The UK, along with the US, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Colombia, are sending emergency teams and specialised sniffer dogs to aid rescue efforts.
A RAF plane carrying 68 personnel and equipment including sniffer dogs and drones left Brize Norton airbase this evening to join an international rescue operation.
The Government has also announced £2m of humanitarian funding will be given to Venezuela, .
A satellite image showING Catia La Mar, in La Guaira, Venezuela, after the twin earthqaukes struck (Photo: AFP)Sir Keir Starmer said: “My thoughts are with the people of Venezuela following this week’s devastating earthquakes. The UK stands in solidarity with all those affected, particularly those who have lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods.
The teams are made up by firefighters and specialists from 14 UK Fire and Rescue Services across the UK, led by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.
The deadly quakes’ epicentre was around 100 miles (160km) west of the capital Caracas.
The first earthquake, a 7.2-magnitude foreshock, hit west of Morón on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas, with a depth of 22 kilometers (about 14 miles).
The second, a 7.5-magnitude mainshock, was centered 16 kilometers (10 miles) southwest of Morón, with a depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles).
A toy car lies in the rubble after the earthquakes struck Catia La Mar (Photo: AP)Ms Rodríguez said authorities have deployed rescue teams to the city of La Guaira, where dozens of buildings have collapsed.
The city, about 165 kilometers (103 miles) east of the 7.5-magnitude quake’s epicenter, is a “disaster zone,” she said.
Civilians and authorities pulled survivors out of concrete rubble, some of them covered in dust and blood. Families sobbed in front of destroyed homes.
A woman in La Guaira told the BBC her daughters, aged 22 and 23, are missing, adding: “I just want them to be found. I have faith and hope that they are there.”
“I just want them back with me. They are all I have, please.”
The back-to-back earthquakes resulted from shallow strike-slip faulting near the complex plate boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
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