CARACAS, Venezuela — The death toll from twin earthquakes in Venezuela was approaching 1,000 Friday as relief workers from across the globe arrived to search for survivors trapped in the rubble and provide desperately needed assistance to a reeling nation.
“Time is the enemy,” said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone. “We want to immediately begin trying to locate people who are still alive and we can dig out.”
L.A. County dispatched a 73-person contingent to Venezuela, including search-and-rescue teams, canine units, doctors and structural experts, Marrone said in a telephone interview from California.
Hundreds of humanitarian responders from at least 16 countries were descending on the quake-stricken nation. The Pentagon said it was sending aid by air and sea.
The U.S. Southern Command “is moving quickly to bring unmatched airlift, logistics and life-saving capabilities of the U.S. military to … support the nation of Venezuela during this crisis,” the command said in a statement.
Some 250 soldiers, 18 rescue dogs and other aid were sent by Mexico, a nation with vast experience in earthquake relief.
“We always lend a hand in the face of tragedy,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday.
Other nations providing aid included El Salvador, Spain, Chile, Italy, France, Argentina, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
Meantime, the grim roster of fatalities and injured was expanding.
The number of confirmed dead climbed Friday to at least 920, said Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, and more than 3,300 were injured. More than 1,400 structures have been damaged or destroyed. Thousands are homeless, many camped out on streets.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people remained missing, leading to a wave of anguish among relatives and friends. Venezuelans were posting names and pictures of the missing on social media sites in the hope that someone may know their whereabouts.
Many of the missing are believed to be buried amid the wreckage that stretches across a wide swath of the country, from Caracas, the capital, to the northern state of La Guaira — the hardest-hit zone, along the Caribbean Sea, 20 miles north of the capital.
Before-and-after satellite footage of La Guaira reveal a stunning spectacle: Piles of rubble now occupy scores of sites that once housed high-rise buildings, shops, homes and other structures.
A little more than a quarter-century ago, La Guaira was the site of the nation’s worst recorded natural disaster: The flash floods of 1999 that triggered massive mudslides and debris flows, burying entire neighborhoods and towns. Thousands died, according to estimates, though officials never declared an official fatality count.
The twin quakes — with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 — struck the nation within 39 seconds just after 6 p.m on Wednesday. The temblors — with epicenters about 100 miles west of Caracas — were the deadliest to hit Venezuela in almost a century.
On Friday, Venezuelans welcomed the arrival of foreign aid workers, who were seen digging through the vast piles of collapsed concrete. But the outside help also highlighted a sobering reality: The government’s inability to deal with the tragedy. The scope of the catastrophe quickly overwhelmed a country of 28 million battered by years of economic crisis and political tumult.
Much of the early work of recovery was left to ordinary citizens. Throughout the earthquake zone, people without any proper equipment have been seen pulling victims from jagged piles of masonry and rebar.
“The worst nightmare is knowing that the government wasn’t prepared for this,” said Lucy Fernández, 65, a resident of Caracas. “We don’t have rescue workers. We don’t have the necessary tools. We don’t have the money. There is nothing.”
Venezuela’s massive military apparatus appeared largely absent during the crucial hours following the quakes — a fact that, critics say, reflects the fragmented and chaotic state of affairs in much of the government.
“We have an armed forces without leadership and without a clear operational capacity,” said Carlos Calatrava, a political analyst at Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas. “When this happened, there was no technical operational capacity, much less leadership—and a minimum of infrastructure and communications to coordinate humanitarian assistance.”
The tragedy has become a major challenge for the interim government of President Delcy Rodríguez, who took office in January after U.S. special forces swooped into Caracas and arrested her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, and flew them to New York to face drug-trafficking and other charges. The couple has denied the allegations.
Many Venezuelans have expressed disappointment with what they view as a lack of economic and political progress since Rodríguez assumed the presidency, with the support of the Trump administration.
Mogollón, a special correspondent reported from Caracas and McDonnell, a Times staff writer, reported from Mexico City. Special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal, in Mexico City, contributed to this report.
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