The death toll from the back-to-back earthquakes that hit Venezuela has jumped to 589, with 2,980 people injured, acting President Delcy Rodríguez said on television on Friday, as rescue efforts are ongoing to free thousands more believed to still be trapped under the rubble.
Two powerful earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 shook northern and central Venezuela on Wednesday evening, just 39 seconds apart.
The damage is widespread in the state of La Guaira on the Caribbean coast, but buildings also collapsed in the capital, Caracas, and in other regions.
Rescue operations are complicated by the fact that Venezuela is one of the poorest countries in South America, mired for years in a dire economic crisis.
International aid teams are deploying to the country to assist with search efforts and deliver supplies, though operations have been hampered by the closure of Venezuela's international airport which was shut due to damage sustained during the quakes.
Authorities fear that many more people could be dead. Rescue workers are racing against the clock, with experts noting that chances of survival for those still trapped in collapsed buildings diminishes rapidly after 72 hours.
Residents decry lack of state support
The situation is particularly dramatic in La Guaira, where more than 70,000 families have been affected by the quakes, according to Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.
Images broadcast on television show people searching for their loved ones in piles of rubble several metres high, sometimes with their bare hands.
Occasionally, injured people can be seen pulled from the rubble to cheers.
Residents have taken to social media to complain about a lack of government assistance, decrying a shortage of heavy machinery to clear the rubble.
Mobile phone reception and the internet were disrupted in many areas following the earthquakes, while rumours of an impending tsunami were circulating on social media.
Interior Minister Cabello denied the claims on state television, describing those proliferating them as "unscrupulous people who are only out to harm our people and the people of La Guaira."
International community sends support
Several international emergency teams landed in Venezuela overnight, including from Colombia, Mexico and Switzerland.
The EU mobilized more than 520 responders from eight member countries after an appeal by Venezuela for help from the bloc, according to the European Commission.
The US also dispatched search and rescue teams, as well as humanitarian and medical aid, while the Trump administration announced plans to provide $150 million in financial aid to several humanitarian programmes in Venezuela
In order for funds to reach the country, the US Treasury has temporarily lifted a ban on transactions barred under current US sanctions.
Satellite internet provider Starlink, owned by tech magnate Elon Musk, said it is making its network available free of charge to new and existing customers until July 25 in the quake-hit region.
Political upheaval
The US ousted long-time Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January, when special forces seized him in a dramatic overnight operation in Caracas and flew him to New York. Maduro and his wife are now standing trial on drug-related charges.
The Trump administration says Maduro was arrested over alleged ties to transnational drug cartels, while also highlighting Washington's newly gained access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves.
Venezuela's opposition had long sought to remove the socialist government led by Maduro, who succeeded former president Hugo Chávez following his death in 2013.
Millions of Venezuelans are living in exile. The political turmoil of recent years has exacerbated the country's persisting economic crisis.
While the US government has eased some sanctions following Maduro's arrest, the majority of the population continues to live in poverty.
Even before the earthquakes hospitals, electricity and water supplies were functioning only to a limited extent.
Aid organizations fear that the fallout from the quakes could further exacerbate existing social and economic inequalities.
Potentially strongest quake in 100 years
Earthquakes are not uncommon in the region, which sits on the Caribbean Plate and the South American Plate.
However, the twin quakes were perhaps the strongest recorded in the region in around 100 years, according to Germany's Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences (GFZ).
A quake of similar force was last recorded in 1900 near Caracas with a magnitude of 7.7. In 1967, a magnitude-6.5 quake resulted in more than 200 deaths.
