CARACAS, Venezuela — Massive search and rescue operations were underway in Venezuela on Friday as civilians and emergency workers rushed to find those trapped beneath the rubble more than a day after devastating twin earthquakes killed at least 920 people and injured at least 3,360 others, according to government officials.
But time is starting to run out to ensure thousands still buried under the debris of crumbled buildings are found alive.
“The first few hours were the most important,” said Daniela Guerra, one of the many civilian volunteers who have been showing up to destroyed sites across Caracas to help with cleanup and find survivors.
“There were several moments in which we would ask for silence, and yell out, ‘Is anyone alive?’” Guerra said in Spanish while taking a break from rescue efforts Thursday afternoon.
Television footage showed emergency workers rescuing injured people and animals from collapsed buildings. Many were covered in dust and blood as distraught relatives cried out for loved ones and others frantically searched for more survivors.
Among those rescued from the rubble was Graciela Mora. Speaking to Noticias Telemundo from a stretcher, the woman said she gripped on to her doorframe so hard that her arm broke. Mora said her building crumbled on top of her so quickly she “didn’t even have time to cry.”
Complicating rescue efforts, she said, is the lack of supplies and equipment; in fact, some of the machinery brought for cleanup belonged to other civilians. Guerra said they initially began clearing rubble without gloves and some volunteers injured their hands in the process.
“Everything being done is with civilian assistance,” Guerra said, emphasizing the need for international help to save more lives.
In La Guaira, one of the areas hit hardest by the earthquakes, volunteers who lacked specialized machinery to rescue survivors heard a baby crying inside a collapsed building Thursday night. With their bare hands, they began clearing the rubble to reach the infant who appeared to be unharmed.
Other residents of La Guaira told NBC News on Friday afternoon they are already retrieving bodies from the rubble. A tarp covered a man’s corpse laying on the driveway of a collapsed home.
“They covered him up because he was about to burst,” one woman who did not want to be named said in Spanish.
On another crumbled house next door, the body of a woman lay on the front yard, covered with a tarp after civilians removed her from the rubble.
Residents had yet to recover the body of another young woman who neighbors said was pregnant. “They haven’t been able to get her out,” the woman said, “she’s still inside the house.”
The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes struck west of the capital, Caracas, on Wednesday evening less than a minute apart. They were among the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century, sending tremors across much of the country and neighboring areas.
The U.S. State Department committed $150 million to help Venezuela and three urban search-and-rescue teams were among a 250-person response team deployed to the country.
President Donald Trump has said that the United States was “ready, willing and able to help” Venezuela. Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, said that Friday that Trump called her and reaffirmed the support of the U.S.
Hospitals had reached capacity by Thursday evening as the country’s health system struggled to cope with the influx of patients, Health Minister Carlos Alvarado said on state television.
Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said late Thursday that about 200 people remained trapped beneath collapsed buildings, while around 250 structures had been damaged or destroyed.
Rodriguez declared a state of emergency following the quakes. Caracas’ international airport was ordered closed, metro and rail services in affected areas were suspended and schools were shuttered for the remainder of the week.
Overnight, thousands of people who lost their homes slept outdoors, sheltering in tents or sleeping on benches and makeshift beds after being displaced by the disaster.
As rescue efforts unfolded, the acting president visited the coastal town of Macuto in La Guaira.
“We are supporting the families, and they have our solidarity. We hope to recover alive as many people as possible,” she said.
The state, which borders Caracas and is home to the capital’s main international airport, saw about 70,000 families affected, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said.
In La Guaira, José Rolón was celebrating his birthday at a pool in his brother’s apartment building when disaster struck.
“I felt the floor start to shake violently. The water in the pool began to churn wildly, like a heavy swell,” Rolón told Noticias Telemundo in Spanish. As everyone inside the pool began to get out, they saw the building next to them collapse.
“It was a moment of shock,” Rolón said, adding that he spent the night sleeping inside his car with his 4-year-old and 2-year-old children.
Travel was ordered restricted to La Guaira starting at 8 p.m. Friday due to the needs of rescuers and over fears of a public health crisis, the government said.
“Remember, we have people alive under the rubble, but we also have people who have died,” Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela’s Minister of the Popular Power for Interior, Justice and Peace, said.
A website created to help locate missing people listed more than 50,000 as unaccounted for as families searched for loved ones. It reported that 8,000 people have been found so far.
Several countries have also reported citizens among the dead and missing, including Brazil, China, Italy and Spain.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s predictive modeling suggested the number of fatalities could climb to more than 10,000 as rescue crews continue searching through collapsed buildings and piles of rubble for survivors.
Nicolás Maduro, who was president of Venezuela when Trump ordered a military raid to arrest him in January on drug trafficking charges, commented on the tragedy.
“Cilia and I are in constant prayer, standing with our people and our Homeland during this time of sorrow,” Maduro, who is being held at a New York jail, wrote Friday on X.
Governments and humanitarian organizations around the world mobilized assistance, with emergency supplies and rescue teams arriving from countries across Latin America, Europe and Asia.
The Trump administration also eased sanctions to authorize transactions related to quake relief that would otherwise be prohibited.
United Nations’ Humanitarian Chief Tom Fletcher wrote on social media that search and rescue teams were being deployed from around the world.
“Every hour counts,” he said Thursday.
Ana Vanessa Herrero reported from Caracas, Elmira Aliieva from London, and Nicole Acevedo from New York.
