Foreign rescue teams reaching quake-hit Venezuela where 589 dead, many missing

Foreign rescue teams and aid were arriving on Friday in Venezuela nearly two days after devastating twin earthquakes flattened areas in and around the capital Caracas, forcing residents to dig through rubble to save relatives, friends and neighbours. The government has estimated hundreds of people still trapped and missing on top of 589 confirmed fatalities and 2,980 injuries. A website set up to take reports of people still unaccounted for had 50,000 listed as of Friday morning. The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 tremors, two of the biggest earthquakes in Latin America’s modern history, struck about 160 kilometres west of Caracas on Wednesday evening as Venezuelans were enjoying a public holiday. The US Geological Survey has predicted more than 10,000 deaths. The government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who took power after the United States arrested her predecessor in a January raid, has pledged a massive deployment of assistance. Yet help was patchy on Thursday, with authorities like firefighters, police, civil protection and the military on the streets in some places but absent or with minimal presence in others. People stand on the rubble of a collapsed building, in the aftermath of earthquakes in La Guaira, Venezuela on June 25, 2026. —Reuters/File La Guaira, a coastal city just outside Caracas, was the worst affected, as at least 100 buildings, including high-rise apartments, were smashed to the ground. Anguished residents, many of whom combed through debris with their hands or whatever tools they could find, decried a lack of state help and proper equipment, though state television showed images of Rodriguez making an afternoon visit and pledging aid. “He’s under the slabs and there’s no machinery to get him out,” said Yamileth Jimenez of her 19-year-old son, who was stuck in debris of their seven-storey apartment building. Beyond those combing through the rubble, Venezuelans have also stepped up to provide ad-hoc aid to earthquake victims, with motorcycle ca