International Rescue Teams Race to Quake-Hit Venezuela
Rescue crews are racing to find survivors after powerful magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday, leaving hundreds dead and thousands injured. The worst damage was reported in La Guaira, where emergency teams continue searching through collapsed buildings. Authorities have requested international assistance, with rescue teams, paramedics and humanitarian aid arriving from across Latin America.
Just after midnight on Friday, rescuers are still pulling survivors through the rubble in La Guaira, Venezuela... the state worst-hit by massive double earthquakes on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, acting president Delcy Rodríguez visited the area, as local rescue crews awaited backup from the international community.
DELCY RODRÍGUEZ, VENEZUELAN ACTING PRESIDENT (La Guaira, Venezuela)
We have requested international assistance. The first rescuers arriving from the Dominican Republic are about to land, and in the coming hours, the rest of the countries and the international community will arrive. Our best wishes, all our hope, and all our prayers are with the lives of Venezuelan men and women.
Hundreds of people have been confirmed dead... and thousands injured in the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes on Wednesday evening that sent buildings crumbling. But with many still missing, the United States Geological Survey says the death toll could reach the thousands.
From Chile... Mexico... El Salvador... and the Dominican Republic... Venezuela's neighbors are sweeping in with rescue workers and paramedics to help search for survivors.
ERICK PORTILLO, DIRECTOR, CRUZE VERDE IN LA LIBERTAD (Comalapa, La Paz, El Salvador)
Our mission, our motivation, will be to search for human lives under the rubble. That is our number one mission. We believe we are still within those vital hours after the earthquake, when the greatest possible number of specialized personnel, canine units and heavy tools are needed to find many people alive, with God's help.
In Panama City, people flocked to government donation centers, bringing food, medicine and cleaning supplies to be sent on humanitarian flights to Venezuela. The government also prepared to deploy rescue teams to earthquake-stricken areas.
RAUL MULINO, PANAMANIAN PRESIDENT (Panama City, Panama)
These are the moments when international solidarity truly serves its purpose, and it should call on all of us to cooperate urgently, according to each person's possibilities, to restore normality as much as can be done in such a painful and catastrophic situation.
And the US, which captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro earlier this year, is also coming in to help... promising 150 million US dollars for humanitarian aid and sending in senior military officials to join relief efforts.
DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT (Washington, DC)
We took over Venezuela in less than one day, and the oil is flowing and we're getting along with them great. We're going to, by the way, help them with their big, they had a tremendous earthquake last night that you read about, massive, like a massive, in Caracas. But we're going to help them out.
As international aid pours in, the time to find survivors in the aftermath is ticking down fast.
