THE APEX TIMES
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said the number of people killed in last week’s twin earthquakes climbed by about 300 in a day, while officials said search-and-rescue work is still under way.
Venezuela’s earthquake death toll climbed to 2,595 as rescue teams continued operations following two major tremors that struck the country last week, the government said on July 2, according to Acting President Delcy Rodríguez. The latest count represents an increase of about 300 deaths from the previous day, Rodríguez said in her first press conference since taking power in January, following the U.S. operation that captured President Nicolás Maduro, CNBC reported on July 3, citing her remarks.
Rodríguez said the government had not concluded its search and rescue efforts, which have continued for more than a week. She also reported more than 12,000 injuries, while not specifying how many people remain missing. An unofficial, widely circulated online list indicates some 38,500 people were still unaccounted for, down from nearly 60,000 in the days immediately after the earthquakes, CNBC said.
The quakes included a magnitude 7.2 event followed seconds later by a magnitude 7.5 mainshock on Wednesday, making the tremors the strongest to hit Venezuela since 1900, according to Rodríguez as described by CNBC. Officials said many structures collapsed across Caracas and La Guaira, Venezuela’s coastal state that was hardest hit. The damage also reached critical infrastructure, with the Simón Bolívar International Airport reportedly suffering severe harm, according to the report.
Authorities said nearly 800 buildings collapsed, including 189 that were completely destroyed. A preliminary satellite analysis released by researchers from NASA and Oregon State University, updated on Monday, estimated that about 58,870 buildings were likely damaged or destroyed, CNBC reported. Officials in La Guaira also said nearly all local officials were killed in the disaster, according to the same report, underscoring the scale of disruption to civil administration and emergency response.
The UN estimated direct physical damage at $6.7 billion, equivalent to about 6% of Venezuela’s gross domestic product, CNBC reported. With that kind of economic and infrastructure impact, the government’s ability to restore services has emerged as a central concern for recovery and rebuilding, particularly in areas where housing and public facilities were heavily damaged.
On the international assistance front, the U.S. has mounted one of its largest disaster responses in years, deploying more than 900 personnel inside Venezuela, CNBC reported. The U.S. response has continued alongside Venezuelan search-and-rescue operations, with officials maintaining that the most immediate work to locate survivors is still ongoing. The government’s next operational steps, according to the timeline described in the report, depend on how quickly officials can confirm casualties, process missing-person records, and assess structural safety across affected neighborhoods.
As authorities continue to update casualty and damage figures, the figures may continue to shift while rescue teams work and while remote damage assessments are refined. Rodríguez said the government had not finished search-and-rescue, and the report tied the broader damage estimate to continuing analysis and infrastructure assessments, suggesting that the full scale of destruction and the final death toll may take additional days to stabilize, according to the account provided by CNBC.
