Venezuela's quake toll passes 2,295 a week on, with tens of thousands still unaccounted for

A week after the twin earthquake that struck north-central Venezuela, the official toll rose to at least 2,295 dead and 11,267 injured, according to National Assembly President Jorge Rodr guez, who has been the main voice for the figures since the disaster. The United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the country, Gianluca Rampolla, warned that the number will keep growing as rescue and debris-removal work advances.

Search efforts continued in the coastal state of La Guaira, the hardest hit, where most of the victims are concentrated. According to the official toll, some 6,461 people were rescued by more than 4,000 emergency workers, and the international teams, made up of rescuers from 24 countries, numbered about 4,099 personnel, 153 dogs and dozens of support vehicles, alongside 17,832 Venezuelan volunteers. Although the 72-hour window considered critical closed days ago, teams were still recording rescues: among them, a three-year-old boy found after six days under the rubble and a 21-year-old man rescued after 106 hours.

The number of missing people remains the subject of conflicting accounts. The International Organization for Migration estimated that up to 6.76 million people could have been affected by the quakes, while other sources speak of tens of thousands of missing-persons reports and the government uses lower figures. Independent verification of the official data by journalists in the field has been hampered by severe infrastructure damage and restrictions on access to the worst-hit areas. The US Geological Survey had warned, through predictive modeling, that the confirmed toll could rise considerably.