Hopes of finding more survivors of Venezuela earthquakes fade

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela, June 30 - Rescue teams in Venezuela were losing hope on Tuesday of finding more survivors of twin earthquakes that struck the country last week, following hours of grueling work searching for victims beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Rescue teams from Ecuador and the U.S. halted operations early on Tuesday in Macuto, a town in La Guaira state — the area hardest hit by the June 24 earthquakes — after more than 40 hours of work, when they stopped receiving responses from a mother and her three children trapped beneath a nine-story building.

"In the end, we believe the days have already passed and that what we will find now is death," said Major Jorge Montanero, leader of the EQ11 team from Guayaquil, located on Ecuador's Pacific coast.

"Unfortunately, things haven't developed favorably," he said as he stood amid rubble after cutting through four concrete slabs of the building in an effort to locate the four trapped victims.

Some 59,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed by the twin earthquakes — which hit just seconds apart with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 on June 24 — according to NASA estimates. The widespread devastation can be seen from space.

Not all collapsed buildings have had professional rescue teams on site, with relatives and neighbors working to remove debris to pull out survivors or bodies, according to survivors and residents from various areas.

"There is no doubt we are facing a figure higher than what has already been reported. I can offer an estimate: we are procuring — and this has been agreed with local authorities — 10,000 body bags," Gianluca Rampolla, the United Nations' resident coordinator in Venezuela, said on Monday from his office in Venezuela's capital, Caracas.

The government of acting President Delcy Rodriguez says at least 1,750 people have died and thousands have been injured as a result of the earthquakes. About 16,000 people were left homeless.

A website promoted by the country's political opposition puts the number of people still missing at around 43,000. REUTERS