Attention Turns to Venezuela Quake Aid 06/30 06:05

   With the window for finding survivors shrinking fast, Venezuelans combed 
Monday through more ruins of buildings toppled by last week's powerful 
back-to-back earthquakes, and attention turned to the country's humanitarian 
crisis that could persist for years.

   LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) -- With the window for finding survivors shrinking 
fast, Venezuelans combed Monday through more ruins of buildings toppled by last 
week's powerful back-to-back earthquakes, and attention turned to the country's 
humanitarian crisis that could persist for years.

   Relief organizations say the first 72 hours after a natural disaster is the 
most crucial time period for rescues, though survival can be extended if people 
have access to food and water. Five days after the twin quakes, questions 
loomed about whether the cash-strapped government will be able to coordinate 
the effort needed to care for thousands of people who have been left homeless.

   In other developments, a 4.6 magnitude aftershock rumbled through the 
disaster zone in the northern state of La Guaira.

   The death toll stood at more than 1,700 people, according to the government, 
which has long retained tight control over news media.

   Venezuelan government promotes its efforts

   Facing criticism that authorities have done too little, too slowly, 
government officials aggressively promoted their recovery and rescue efforts. 
Police and military officers on Monday handed out cans of tuna and crackers to 
hungry displaced people in La Guaira.

   In a speech, Jorge Rodrguez, the leader of the Venezuelan National Assembly 
and brother of acting President Delcy Rodrguez, said electricity had been 
restored to 90% of the hardest-hit state of La Guaira. He said authorities were 
racing to evaluate damaged buildings that still posed a danger and had set up 
15 temporary displacement camps.

   Many Venezuelan news reports have avoided politically delicate questions 
related to the earthquake, such as the widespread collapse of buildings, 
sticking instead to safer stories about heroic rescues. Delcy Rodrguez, who 
came to power in January after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration 
seized former President Nicols Maduro, shared footage Monday of emergency 
workers lifting a man out of the ruins to applause after a 43-hour search 
effort.

   "Each life saved is a victory for hope," she wrote on X.

   Such bright spots are rare at the quake's epicenter, where families keep 
vigil at search sites.

   "We have to stay strong, even without food, without sleep," said Ana Rada, 
watching as civil defense workers looked for her brother. "Until I see the 
body, I still have hope."

   Aftershock rattles rescuers

   After what the government said were more than 600 aftershocks since 
Wednesday's quakes, a moderate temblor on Monday struck 27 kilometers (17 
miles) north of Caraballeda on Venezuela's Caribbean coast and measured 4.6 
magnitude, according to the United States Geological Survey.

   Jorge Rodrguez said there were no reports of damage, but the shock sent 
residents in the capital of Caracas screaming into the streets.

   "Here we are again, back in the street. I don't know when we'll have a 
moment of true peace," said Concepcin Hernndez, 51, evacuating her apartment 
in the Chacao municipality of Caracas.

   Questions over extent of US help

   Dozens of countries have offered assistance. But the disaster has raised 
expectations for the Trump administration after its takeover of Venezuela's oil 
industry earlier this year.

   In a briefing with reporters, a senior State Department official said 300 
first responders sent from the U.S. are working on the ground and two dozen 
C-17 military transport planes arrive every day with supplies. Financial 
support from the U.S. now exceeds $300 million.

   The U.S. military is also assisting with repairs at the port in La Guaira to 
allow an influx of relief supplies by sea and manage air traffic after the 
quakes destroyed part of the control tower at Simn Bolvar International 
Airport in Caracas, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity 
because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

   It seemed unlikely, however, that the Trump administration would grant 
temporary humanitarian protections to Venezuelans as previous administrations 
have done for people from disaster-stricken countries already in the U.S. Such 
action was taken after earthquakes in 2010 in Haiti and 2001 in El Salvador.

   Venezuelans have been a major focus of the Trump administration's 
immigration crackdown. More than 100 Venezuelans recently deported from the 
U.S. were being held at a hotel in the country when the quake hit, and many are 
now missing, survivors say.

   Rescuers included a miner deported from the US

   Among the rescuers digging through the rubble Monday was 31-year-old miner 
Jean Sosa, who said he was deported from the U.S. in January over a missed 
immigration court hearing and returned to Caracas last month, dazed by an 
odyssey that began in shackles at an Arizona immigration detention center.

   He had built a new life in New York City over the past four years, he said, 
working at a taco stand near Penn Station, before Department of Homeland 
Security officials detained him. They ultimately shuttled him between 
immigration detention centers across the U.S. before leaving him and a busload 
of other deportees in southern Mexico without his passport, phone or wallet. He 
then paid his way back to Venezuela.

   Since arriving Wednesday in La Guaira, Sosa has scrambled to pull people 
from the rubble with his old mining pickaxe in the absence of national rescue 
teams.

   "Many people could have been saved if there had been equipment and support 
from top authorities from the very beginning," he told The Associated Press, 
wearing a helmet and a black T-shirt splotched with dust in the port city where 
he said he had already rescued 20 people alive.

   Those rescues heartened him, he said, despite the lack of supplies. "We're 
working without gloves, without equipment, borrowing supplies, improvising 
bandages and whatever else we can."

   The full scale of damage remains unclear

   Experts are struggling to assess the scope of damage, but they generally 
agree that the government's figures are a vast undercount.

   Many Venezuelans are skeptical of official pronouncements, particularly 
since Maduro's government claimed victory in the 2024 presidential election 
despite a vote count showing he had lost to the opposition movement led by 
Mara Corina Machado.

   The now-exiled opposition leader has criticized the government response to 
the earthquake and on Monday accused it of temporarily closing the airspace to 
prevent her from returning to the country. She did not offer evidence.

   Jorge Rodrguez said that as of Monday, the earthquake had affected a total 
of 15,866 people. The United Nations, meanwhile, says that up to 6.8 million of 
Venezuela's nearly 30 million residents may be affected -- which could mean 
being displaced or losing access to electricity and water. The Venezuelan Red 
Cross said it expected to address the needs of at least 300,000 people for the 
next two years.

   While Rodrguez said the number of damaged or collapsed buildings had 
reached 855, a preliminary assessment by NASA put that number at 58,870 
buildings. The assessment relied on radar imagery from the European Space 
Agency's Sentinel-1 satellites, which can detect changes to infrastructure.

   The updates to government figures are given in brief televised announcements 
where journalists have no opportunity to ask questions or request more details. 
In another obstacle to coverage, the Venezuelan press union said Monday that 
the Ministry of Communication was blocking access to La Guaira for at least 
some foreign reporters for 48 hours.

   It said the ministry cited the need "to reduce noise during rescue 
operations." The union urged the government to drop the restriction: "As hours 
pass, the health situation may worsen, and the country needs verified and 
timely information."

   Because of the chaos and poor phone service, many Venezuelans have turned to 
non-governmental digital databases to report their loved ones as missing. More 
than 50,000 people were reported missing on one such database, though it is 
unclear how many have been found.

   Firefighter Kleider Carrillo said nothing prepared him for the destruction 
in La Guaira.

   "When you study for this profession, you're trained for situations like 
this," he said. "But what's in textbooks is one thing. Reality is another."