Hope fades, hunger grows a week after Venezuela quakes

LA GUAIRA

Hope of finding more survivors faded on July 1 as Venezuela marked a week since twin earthquakes killed almost 2,300 people, while many who lived through the disaster were running desperately short on food.

As the death toll mounted, Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez declared seven days of mourning, saying the country’s “soul is torn apart by the human losses.”

Tens of thousands of people remain unaccounted for.

The majority of collapsed buildings in the hardest-hit city of La Guaira, just north of Caracas, have been marked with the letter “D” for “deceased,” a sign they had been searched with no signs of life found.

“Time isn’t wasted in a place where there is no expectation of recovering people alive,” said Javier Rodes, the coordinator of a Spanish rescue team whose sniffer dog Nala searched in vain through the rubble for traces of life.

Venezuela’s National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said on July 1 that deaths had risen to 2,295, and more than 11,000 people were injured. He said almost 13,000 people had been left homeless.

The United Nations estimates 50,000 people are missing.

With daily life in ruins, the focus is now shifting to survival. Many are homeless and food and water are becoming scarce.

“They give out supplies here, but sometimes people nearly kill each other for food. It’s like a cockfight,” Daniela Armas, 18, a vendor in La Guaira, said after waiting to get food at an emergency shelter.

There has been widespread theft and looting and on July 1 four police officers were arrested after being caught by residents stealing valuables from the rubble.

“The situation is quite critical,” said Lia Poggio, head of mission in Venezuela for the International Organization for Migration (IOM).