Venezuela earthquake death toll hits 920, over 50,000 missing

Death from twin earthquakes in Venezuela rose to 920 on Friday, with more than 50,000 people reported missing as international rescue teams joined a desperate search for survivors.

The 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes struck within a minute of each other Wednesday night, flattening buildings across the northern coast and leaving the hardest-hit coastal area of La Guaira buried under dust and rubble.

What happened in the Venezuela earthquakes?

Two earthquakes, measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, struck Venezuela's northern coast within a minute of each other on Wednesday night. The tremors flattened buildings across La Guaira, near the capital Caracas. UN aid chief Tom Fletcher told AFP more than 50,000 people were missing, warning the death toll could rise significantly.

Why is the damage from the Venezuela earthquake so severe?

Oil-rich Venezuela was already weakened by more than a decade of economic collapse before the earthquakes struck, hollowing out its hospitals and public services. The country is also six months into a fragile political transition following the ouster of former leader Nicolas Maduro. Fletcher called it a "very, very complex emergency response."

Family members, neighbors and volunteers resorted to bare hands to claw out survivors, frustrated by the absence of heavy machinery. "Please, we need support here. We need machinery to start lifting the columns," said Marjosly Salazar, 40, who lost her 16-year-old daughter and whose five-month-old son and cousin remain missing. "We haven't seen any government officials here, none at all."

At one flattened building in La Guaira, AFP saw workers using sledgehammers to break through debris while calling for absolute silence to detect any cries from below. Aftershocks and structurally compromised buildings continued to pose serious risks. A rescue worker at one site warned bystanders that a building had already shifted 40 centimeters and a collapse could trap everyone nearby.

What international aid has arrived for Venezuela earthquake victims?

Search and rescue teams from at least 17 countries were being mobilized, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA. Spanish, Salvadoran, Swiss, Colombian and Mexican rescue teams were already on the ground by Friday. A senior US military official landed in Caracas to oversee Washington's relief efforts.

The United States announced it was deploying two warships, transport planes and helicopters and mobilizing $150 million in aid. Washington also suspended economic sanctions on Venezuela for four months to avoid hindering rescue operations. La Guaira resident Argenis Mendez, however, expressed frustration at the pace of the domestic response: "The authorities are useless; useless because the military should be here with all the heavy machinery they have."

The UN and partner aid agencies warned that the disaster was compounding pre-existing humanitarian conditions. "Even before the earthquakes, millions of people across Venezuela were facing food insecurity, collapsing health services, protection risks, and limited access to basic services," they said in a joint statement Friday.

Which foreign nationals were killed or are missing after the Venezuela earthquake?

Among the dead were nine Portuguese nationals, five Spaniards, two Brazilians, two Chinese nationals and one Italian-Venezuelan. Portugal said 56 of its citizens were missing or unaccounted for, while Spain reported 133 nationals unaccounted for.

Is Venezuela on a major fault line?

Venezuela's northern coast sits on the boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates, making it seismically active. The country had not experienced a significant quake since 1997, when 73 people died. Wednesday's 7.5-magnitude tremor was the most powerful to strike the region since a 7.7-magnitude quake on Oct. 29, 1900.

The quakes were felt in neighboring Colombia, where residents in Bogota evacuated buildings as a precaution. Tremors were also recorded in several cities in northern Brazil, according to the country's seismic monitoring network. Comparable earthquakes in Haiti in January 2010 and Kashmir in October 2005 claimed more than 200,000 and 73,000 lives respectively.