Race against time to find survivors

TT

Published 16.42

           

           

          Rescue workers search for victims in the rubble of the coastal town of Catia La Mar on the third                  day after the double earthquake.

          1 / 2Photo: Fernando Vergara/AP/TT

Millions of people could be affected by the earthquake disaster in Venezuela, the UN migration agency estimates.

The extent is still unclear. But efforts to find survivors are in a desperate race against time - three days after the double earthquakes, time is running out.

Saturday is a "crucial day" for the search and rescue effort, the UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher says in an interview with BBC Radio 4.

Rescue experts believe that the first 48 to 72 hours are critical for the possibility of finding survivors in the rubble.

– (Rescue workers) are being driven minute by minute, hour by hour, by the sounds of survivors under the rubble, Fletcher says on the radio.

– The worst part is when those voices fall silent.

Superficial tremors

More than 900 people have been confirmed dead in the quakes – which had magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 – and thousands have been injured. But the actual death toll is feared to be much higher. More than 51,000 people have been reported missing.

The fact that the quakes were superficial has contributed to the extensive damage to infrastructure and buildings.

In the hard-hit coastal region of La Guaira, just north of the capital Caracas, people are searching for their relatives themselves with simple tools, the AP news agency reports. Frustration over the lack of effective government efforts is great.

– We are appealing to the government and countries around the world for help, Nazareth Jiménez tells the AP.

Huge consequences

The UN migration agency IOM says that nearly seven million people could be affected by the disaster, including two million in Caracas, writes AFP. The estimate highlights the disaster's "potentially enormous humanitarian consequences," according to a statement.

Due to the chaos and destruction in La Guaira, Venezuelan authorities have deployed more than 14,000 soldiers and police to keep people away, the country's interim president Delcy Rodríguez said on state television on Saturday.

Several countries have sent emergency aid and rescue workers, including the United States, Britain, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador and Switzerland.