More than 1,400 Dead After Earthquake in Venezuela – Hope for Survivors Fades

According to observers, the situation in La Guaira is far worse than in the capital Caracas, located around 30 kilometers away. Firefighters, police, and other security forces have cordoned off the collapsed buildings in Caracas. So far, around 1,000 bodies are said to have been recovered, while model calculations by American seismologists suggest a widely varying figure of at least 10,000 to 100,000 dead.

Concern is growing because, according to experts, the chances for the missing and those buried under the rubble drop sharply after 72 hours. The hope of finding survivors in the debris is increasingly fading. Many are nevertheless still being found alive, which drives rescue workers to make the greatest efforts.

La Guaira Sealed Off – Criticism of the Government

The government has sealed off the state of La Guaira to civilians as well as to the media. Allegedly, in order not to hamper rescue operations. On internet media, people complain that they have not been allowed to help as volunteers since Friday. Security forces, however, have themselves barely deployed heavy equipment or searched for survivors in the rubble.

An article from «NZZ am Sonntag» paints the picture of a regime overwhelmed by disaster relief. The state, run by the US-backed president Delcy Rodríguez, is hardly in a position to organize coordination effectively, it says. After Maduro's abduction by the US military in early January, Vice President Rodríguez took over his office.

International Aid Arrives

Internationally, solidarity with the people of Venezuela is growing. While Switzerland and numerous other states are sending relief supplies and rescue teams to Venezuela following the devastating earthquake, criticism of the sluggish aid within the country itself is growing louder.

Compromised Building Stock as a Result of Past Failures

The disaster also throws a spotlight on the state of the infrastructure. In the state of La Guaira, the destruction is far greater, partly because the coastal state has still not recovered in terms of its building stock and infrastructure from the devastating mudslides and rockfalls of December 1999. At that time, between 10,000 and 30,000 people died after days of rainfall.

While in Caracas, after the last major earthquake in 1967, Venezuelan seismic standards were fundamentally revised and earthquake-resistant construction was significantly improved, in the years that followed there was a lack of cement and steel in La Guaira because the nationalized cement and steel corporations sank into a swamp of corruption and mismanagement. The current head of government faces the task of ensuring the supply of survivors and initiating reconstruction in a politically fragile situation.

The country's political leadership has long faced accusations of having neglected reconstruction. The phase under Chávez and later under Nicolás Maduro, which began in 1999 and spans 27 years of Chavismo, has eroded the economic foundations for modern disaster preparedness, critics observe.

In view of the sluggish aid, international organizations and neighboring countries are directing appeals for help to the international community. Helpers are trying to reach those buried in the rubble as time works against them. The search for survivors in the coming days will determine the further fate of entire neighborhoods.

Cleanup work is also continuing in Caracas. Residents report power outages and disrupted water lines. Authorities have called on the population to stay away from buildings at risk of collapse and to follow the instructions of the emergency services.