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Venezuelans left to search for their dead as quake rescue effort ends
AP News • • world
Key Points:
- In the aftermath of Venezuela’s twin earthquakes, many families, like Noel Márquez’s, have been forced to recover their deceased loved ones themselves due to lack of government assistance and heavy machinery, with some bodies still trapped under rubble after 11 days.
- The official death toll has risen to 3,535 with over 16,740 injured, but thousands remain missing, and local civilians, often with rudimentary tools, continue searching through massive debris without significant state support.
- International rescue teams have mostly departed, and Venezuelan authorities are shifting focus towards reconstruction efforts under the “Venezuela Reborn” program, while families express frustration over slow and inadequate government response.
- Residents criticize long-standing issues of substandard construction in public housing, which contributed to the collapse of buildings, and accuse the government of negligence both before and after the disaster.
- The ongoing recovery process is emotionally and physically harrowing, with decomposed bodies making identification and retrieval difficult, and many families coping with the trauma of losing multiple relatives amid scarce resources and support.
