The death toll from the earthquakes in Venezuela exceeded 5,000 deaths on Friday, a figure still provisional three weeks after the disaster which left thousands of people homeless. At least 5,069 people died during the earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 which struck, 39 seconds apart, on Wednesday June 24, the north of the country, and particularly the state of La Guaira, according to a new report published by the President of Parliament, Jorge Rodriguez.
The tremors also injured 16,740 people. The number of missing people, which the authorities do not mention, could reach 50,000 according to a UN estimate made two days after the double earthquake. Under the violence of the tremors, several hundred buildings were damaged, becoming practically uninhabitable, or completely collapsed, mainly in La Guaira.
Tens of thousands of homeless
Nearly 20,000 homeless people are now crammed into makeshift camps set up in stadiums, in public squares and even on the sidewalks of this popular seaside resort, close to the capital Caracas.
In order to finance the reconstruction work, Venezuela obtained from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the release of 346 million dollars, which were previously frozen, the financial body not recognizing the legitimacy of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. This sum will make it possible in particular “to support families” affected by the disaster “in terms of housing, infrastructure, essential public services”, detailed the interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, on Friday.
The IMF and the World Bank announced in April the resumption of their relations with Venezuela, frozen since 2019, after the United States overthrew President Maduro during a military operation in January.
The search for bodies continues
In La Guaira, relatives of victims and volunteers continued to search for bodies on Friday, amid swarms of flies in the ruins. Some have rented machines to lift the walls that prevent them from accessing their loved ones.
“There are a lot of people down there, no one wants to touch the dead,” complained to AFP Hildegar Mujica, a 60-year-old economist looking for his ex-wife, buried under the concrete slabs of a 12-story tower. “At no time have state agencies shown any interest in the bodies found throughout this stone structure,” he laments. “In fact, there are visible bodies and, if there are no families to recognize them, we do not take them into account,” he added.
Delcy Rodriguez had nevertheless assured at the beginning of July that “no one would go to mass graves”.
As the days go by, some rely on “moles”, individuals who, for remuneration, help families recover their dead. Johan Torumo, a 45-year-old volunteer from La Guaira, disapproves of the practice. “I have a witness from whom they took $1,300,” said the rescuer, criticizing the lack of government assistance in recovering the bodies. “We didn’t even see a grinder, nothing,” he assures us.
The “moles” are contacted with the greatest discretion, according to him, and charge $300 per person found. “Once they find your loved one, they ask you for a black trash bag and they put it in you,” he says.
