Venezuela earthquakes: 589 confirmed dead so far as international rescue teams arrive – latest updates

The UN said international search and rescue teams from at least 17 countries are travelling to Venezuela to help look for survivors, AFP reports.

Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian agency Ocha, said getting the teams to the scene was a “top priority”.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, he said:

“Earthquakes are one of the most devastating things that can happen to any country. It really is a terrifying thing.

But what we are seeing right now is also an international mobilisation at its very best.

The entire humanitarian system is moving very fast, and at scale.”

Teams from Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland and the US were already in Venezuela, said Laerke, adding that they will be followed by personnel from the UK, Czechia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Jordan, the Netherlands, Qatar and Spain, among others.

China’s president Xi Jinping said Beijing was ready to provide Venezuela with “disaster relief and reconstruction” assistance.

Xi sent a message of condolence to Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez today, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

“Upon learning that the powerful earthquakes have caused heavy casualties and significant property losses, Xi, on behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, mourned those killed in the earthquakes and expressed sincere sympathy to the bereaved families and those injured,” Xinua reported.

Two Chinese nationals were confirmed among the victims of the earthquakes, according to Xinhua, citing the embassy in Caracas.

The Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, has raised the death toll of Spaniards to three and the number of missing to 99.

Four Spanish citizens have been located trapped under the rubble of buildings collapsed by the double earthquake in Venezuela, and rescue teams are now working to reach them, Albares said, according to the Spanish newspaper El País.

He also said a group of Spanish tourists stranded in the country will return on the military plane that has transported aid to Venezuela.

Rescuers, equipment and other emergency aid are arriving in Venezuela to help with relief efforts. Below are details of the foreign aid put together by Reuters:

US

The US state department said it is mobilising $150m in aid. That included $50m for partners such as the UN’s World Food ⁠Programme and nonprofit organisation International Medical Corps, and $100m to a UN pooled fund.

Washington is also sending a disaster response team with two urban search-and-rescue units, while providing airlift, logistics and coordination support to move personnel and life-saving supplies into ⁠affected areas, the state department said.

El Salvador

More than 150 rescue workers ​and supplies arrived in Venezuela from El Salvador this morning, along with medical supplies.

Mexico

Mexico is initially sending 250 military rescue personnel, five rescue dogs, four aircraft, a drone, rescue equipment and medical supplies.

Red Cross

The first batch of humanitarian supplies is leaving the International Federation of the Red Cross’s (IFRC) regional humanitarian hub in Panama today.

“The cargo includes kitchen sets, hygiene kits, mosquito nets, and other essential items,” said Loyce Pace, the Americas regional director for the IFRC.

India

Two Indian air force planes took off for Venezuela carrying a field hospital and emergency supplies, India’s foreign minister, ‌Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said.

Germany

A German federal disaster relief team with 48 members is deploying to Venezuela today to assist with rescue and recovery operations.

Pope Leo

Pope Leo has sent €100,000 to Venezuela for quake relief from the Vatican’s charity fund, Vatican ​media reported.

World Central Kitchen

Chef Jose Andres, founder of the humanitarian meal provider World Central Kitchen, said his team had begun distributing meals in the Venezuelan capital Caracas.

He also said his Longer Tables Fund will immediately contribute $1m to help Venezuela.

Colombia

Colombia’s national unit for disaster risk management said it had mobilised a search-and-rescue team of more than 60 people, four dog teams and equipment for Venezuela.

Nine firefighters from the city of Cali were going to assist with search-and-rescue ⁠efforts, the mayor said.

Ecuador

Ecuador sent a rescue team consisting of 46 specialists, two search dogs and equipment.

Panama

Panama said it will send a ​rescue mission to Venezuela and is organising humanitarian aid.

France

France said it is deploying a search-and-rescue unit to Venezuela including medical ​teams, engineers and dogs to ‌help locate and extract survivors ​from collapsed buildings.

Spain

The Spanish defense ​ministry said a military plane would bring 57 soldiers from its search-and-rescue unit and 40 firefighters from the Madrid region to Venezuela.

Spain’s development agency also plans to set up a field hospital in Venezuela.

Italy

Italy’s civil protection agency said it was sending an advance team to Venezuela while the Italian foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said firefighters, the defence ministry and the air force were mobilising to offer help.

UK

UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said the government is providing £2m to help the emergency response.

Spain’s foreign ministry said two Spanish nationals were killed in the earthquake, while an official confirmed 90 others were missing.

“We deeply regret the death of two Spaniards, confirmed by their relatives, to whom we extend our condolences,” the Spanish foreign ministry said in a statement.

Speaking to the Spanish radio network, Cadena SER, Spain’s territorial policy minister, Ángel Víctor Torres, said the number of Spaniards missing in the double earthquake in Venezuela had risen to 90.

Portugal’s foreign ministry also confirmed nine Portuguese national were killed, with 56 citizens missing or unaccounted for.

A group of 80 rescuers from Switzerland landed in Venezuela this morning, according to the country’s state broadcaster, VTV.

The Swiss delegation includes search and rescue specialists along with 18 tonnes of supplies and eight search dogs.

Turkey announced two flights will leave Istanbul today with military, medical and rescue personnel and a pair of search dogs, while the Netherlands also said it was sending a team consisting of 65 rescue workers, dogs and equipment.

Here are some images on the newswires from Venezuela, where rescue teams and residents have worked through the night to search for survivors:

A 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck a rural part of northern California on Wednesday. Hours later, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the northern coast of Japan and two powerful earthquakes rocked Venezuela in a devastating mass casualty event.

The tremors happened in the span of eight hours, prompting online speculation over whether they were related.

Experts say they were not.

The episodes do share a similarity in that they all occurred along well-known plate boundaries with high seismic hazard, according to William Barnhart, assistant coordinator for the US Geological Survey’s earthquake hazards program. But their timing on Wednesday was simply a coincidence.

“Earthquakes happen every day all over the world. Most of them happen far from people,” Barnhart said. “Yesterday was just a very peculiar day where you had a couple of fairly significant earthquakes happen in areas where people felt them.”

Read more:

Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez visited Macuto, La Guaira state, yesterday to assess the level of damage and observe search and rescue efforts, according to local media.

She announced the imminent arrival of international aid, with the aim of bolstering the efforts of the country’s emergency services.

“We have requested international aid, and support from our sister nations will begin to arrive in the coming hours. Our best wishes, all our hopes and prayers are focused on the lives of Venezuelans,” she said.

A senior American military official has arrived in Venezuela’s capital Caracas to oversee US relief efforts, the US Southern Command (Southcom), whose area of responsibility covers Latin America and the Caribbean, said.

US Marine Corps Maj Gen Kevin Jarrard is serving as the senior Southcom official on the ground to coordinate relief operations with local teams, Southcom said in a post on X.

Rescue workers and residents in cities across northern Venezuela continue to dig through rubble in a frantic search for survivors, more than a day after the country was hit with the most powerful earthquake in over a century.

At least 235 people have been killed, but authorities fear the death toll could rise significantly, with thousands reported missing. More than 4,000 people were injured in the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes that struck less than 40 seconds apart on Wednesday evening in the northern states near the capital, Caracas.

The coastal region of La Guaira, where the country’s main airport is located, suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties, as rows of towering apartment blocks were reduced to rubble while people desperately searched for missing loved ones.

The UN’s humanitarian agency, Ocha, reported more than 100 buildings had collapsed in the La Guaira region alone, including a large block of flats called the Ritasol Palace and the seafront Eduard’s Hotel.

The acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation. She said the government was creating a $200m reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes.

She appealed to businesses to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations.

“We hope to rescue as many living people as possible,” she said.

Dramatic scenes unfolded on Thursday of people being pulled out of rubble covered in dust and blood, but few government rescue teams were initially seen outside Caracas, according to reports.

Yamileth Jimenez, from La Guaira city, said her 19-year-old son was still trapped in the debris of their seven-story apartment building.

“He’s under the slabs and there’s no machinery to get him out,” ‌Jimenez told Reuters.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the defence department would help search and rescue teams deploy to the affected region after the Simón Bolívar international airport was closed due to damage, complicating aid efforts.

He said the immediate priority was search and rescue. “They have [lots of] collapsed buildings and so they will need a lot of help in terms of digging through that,” Rubio told reporters, adding that the next 72 “golden” hours were critical.

You can read this morning’s full report here: