Staff Reporter:
Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez said on Thursday that at least 164 people have died and nearly 1,000 were injured after two major earthquakes hit the country.
Rodriguez added that an initial fund of $200 million will be created using resources from the International Monetary Fund to rebuild infrastructure, hospitals and housing.
Soon after the earthquake struck the US Geological Survey (USGS) gave an estimate on the potential economic damage and fatalities in the region.
It has put that most likely potential loss of life between 10,000 and 100,000.
“How do you go back to living like this? This is like something out of a movie – I’ve never seen anything like it in my life… when I got here [to Los Palos Grandes] I was in shock,” said a woman sitting on the steps of a square who isn’t even trying to fall asleep.
The executive director of the UN Office for Project Services Jorge Moreira da Silva also said that reports indicated “a significant loss to life, widespread injuries, and severe damage to homes and vital infrastructure” in Caracas and elsewhere.
The first earthquake that struck the country last night was registered with a magnitude of 7.2 by the USGS, with a second quake of 7.5 magnitude striking less than a minute later, which the USGS termed the strongest in the country since 1900.
At daybreak on Thursday, in Los Palos Grandes area of the capital Caracas—a residential area where buildings have collapsed—hundreds were sleeping (or were trying to) in squares, on the streets, or in vehicles parked along the avenues around.
People could be seen lying on the ground with sheets they managed to bring out from their homes – there was a lot of fear of aftershocks.
Other families were seen holding their pets in their arms.
Many were watching over the rescue efforts and waiting for news about their loved ones who may have been trapped under the rubble. Some cars were blocked in.
