Rescuers have cleared only a fraction of the rubble left by twin earthquakes in Venezuela, where the confirmed death toll has climbed to 6,125, the head of the National Assembly said on Tuesday. Nearly 61,000 people have required medical attention since the disaster struck.
“We acted immediately”
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has mounted a firm defence of her government’s handling of the catastrophe, rejecting claims of a sluggish initial response. “We did not wait one, two or three days. We acted immediately,” she said, insisting that emergency protocols were activated the moment the quakes hit and that thousands of troops and other personnel were deployed to the stricken zones.
Her comments come amid scrutiny of the relief effort. In the first days after the disaster, residents of the worst-affected areas reported receiving no official help and were forced to dig through the debris with their bare hands.
Aftershocks and a race against time
The disaster began on June 24 when two powerful tremors – measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude – struck less than a minute apart. Seismologists have since recorded 1,222 aftershocks, further terrorising communities and complicating rescue work. Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, revealed that emergency crews have so far managed to clear only 16.5 per cent of the rubble left by collapsed buildings.
Despite the overwhelming destruction, rescuers continued to pull survivors from the wreckage days after the quakes. In one remarkable case, a man was extracted alive from under the rubble eight days after the tremors.
A fragile leadership
Delcy Rodríguez has been serving as acting president since January 3, when US forces detained Nicolás Maduro and transported him to American soil. At the time, she was vice-president. Venezuela’s Supreme Court instructed her to assume the role of head of state, and she was formally sworn in on January 5.
Donald Trump’s administration chose to co-operate with Rodríguez despite her being a close ally of Maduro. The decision was shaped by a CIA assessment which concluded that figures from the former leadership, including Rodríguez, were better placed than the opposition to maintain stability and governability in the country.
