On the 24th (local time), five days after a series of powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela, search operations are underway at the scene.
According to major foreign media, including the New York Times (NYT) and the Associated Press (AP), Jorge Rodríguez, the speaker of the Venezuela National Assembly, said on the 24th that the death toll from the series of earthquakes stood at 1,450 as of the 28th. That is up 20 from 1,430 tallied the previous day.
Rodríguez said 3,150 were injured and 12,721 were displaced. Of 774 damaged buildings, 189 were counted as completely collapsed.
At a briefing that day, Rodríguez said, "We are going through a grave time, a decisive time."
Since the first quake on the 24th, more than 430 aftershocks have been recorded. In La Guaira state, where damage was concentrated, residents slept outdoors for fear of additional building collapses.
As civilian volunteers from across the country flocked to the affected areas in La Guaira state, specialized emergency rescue teams arriving from abroad were sometimes stranded on the roads. Civilian vehicles carrying relief supplies and volunteers converged at once, causing traffic jams on the only highway into La Guaira state.
The move by Venezuelan authorities to allow only government vehicles and authorized personnel to access the disaster zone also drew anger from volunteers who were blocked from the scene.
As of the previous day, 521 tons of relief supplies and more than 2,700 search-and-rescue personnel had been sent to Venezuela from 24 countries.