Aftershock rattles Venezuela as quake response draws anger

A magnitude 4.6 aftershock shook Venezuela’s devastated northern coast and Caracas early Monday, fraying nerves in communities where residents say they are still digging for relatives and neighbors with little official help nearly a week after twin earthquakes killed more than 1,700 people.

The government says at least 1,719 people have died after magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes struck within 39 seconds of each other Wednesday in the northern state of La Guaira. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez called the disaster the “most brutal natural catastrophe” in Venezuela’s history. Tens of thousands of people are still believed to be missing, and hopes of finding survivors are fading, though rescuers pulled a 21-year-old man alive from rubble overnight into Monday after more than 100 hours trapped.

In La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit areas, residents have used crowbars, mallets, pickaxes and their hands to search through collapsed buildings. The BBC reported that police and army units were visible on streets in the worst-affected areas but not in the rubble, while heavy machinery arrived unevenly and often late.

“The civil protection people decided to help, but they don’t have the equipment. The government doesn’t give it,” said Ruben Rojas, a 32-year-old electrician digging with only gloves and a hard hat. “They are just like us, working with their hands.”

Carolyn Zerpa, 39, said she was searching by hand for her father and brother. “You can’t really do much with just a pickaxe,” she told BBC Mundo.

In Los Corales, NPR reported, residents collected donations to pay for a backhoe after a government operator did not appear at the ruins of a 12-story building. Rosalia Bustamante, who lost several friends there, said delays cost lives. “There were people in the ruins responding when we called out to them,” she said. “But now, they are dead.”

Neighborhood volunteers in Los Corales have recovered more than a dozen bodies, NPR reported. With no body bags, they used garbage bags and plastic sheets, and without refrigerated containers, bodies were left in tropical heat.

Residents and aid workers have also complained of obstacles at checkpoints. NPR reported that police demanded permits from doctors and rescue workers, and that a Caracas construction company owner trying to bring in a jackhammer was delayed for two days while officers sought a permit and sales receipt. “The only thing the authorities do is get in the way,” Julio Meléndez said.

Rodríguez said Monday that more than 25,000 emergency workers, police officers and soldiers had been assisting people affected by the earthquakes. “Every life saved is a victory for hope,” she posted on X. She also announced a commission chaired by her brother, National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez, to assess damage and determine who can return home under a color-coded safety system. Temporary camps are being set up for displaced residents, she said.

The United Nations’ resident humanitarian coordinator, Gianluca Rampolla Del Tindaro, said there had been more than 500 aftershocks and that at least 2,500 structures had been affected by the initial quakes, most of them fully collapsed. The U.N. is obtaining 10,000 body bags as part of its operation, he said, adding that a rise in the death toll was unavoidable.

“It is very sad and we truly hope that actually the number is going to be smaller than that and that’s why we are focusing now on the rescue operation,” he said.

International aid is expanding. The United States announced more than $300 million in assistance, up from an earlier pledge of $150 million, saying the funds will support emergency medical care, food, water and sanitation, shelter, protection and logistics. The USS Fort Lauderdale is positioned off La Guaira, with sailors and Marines using landing and amphibious craft to deliver aid to hard-hit coastal areas. The Netherlands is sending a vessel with emergency supplies, and China has promised nearly $15 million in assistance.

The 21-year-old survivor, Aaron Levi Cantillo Vargas, was found in Caraballeda by teams from Venezuela, Mexico and El Salvador, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said. He said Cantillo Vargas was receiving specialized medical care and that rescuers would “continue working with the hope of being able to save more lives.”