Rescue workers pull 11-year-old Moises Calzadilla from the rubble on June 27, 2026, two days after the earthquakes struck. [Fernando Vergara/AP Photo]
By AFP, AP and Reuters28 Jun 2026
Rescue crews and volunteers have clawed through the rubble of collapsed buildings, racing to find survivors 72 hours after twin earthquakes tore through Venezuela, killing at least 1,430 people and leaving tens of thousands missing.
Experts said the first three days after such disasters are a critical window to locate people alive beneath the debris. That window ends on Sunday. “It’s just very chaotic, hot and unorganised,” said Australian firefighter Craig Demeillon, 43, who travelled alone from Miami, Florida, to La Guaira, the hardest hit area, to help. “Hopefully, there’s more people to find.”
In one of the most striking rescues, residents in the coastal area pulled a newborn alive from the ruins on Friday, about 32 hours after the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 tremors on Thursday. A man was seen in a widely shared social media video crying as he cradled the baby.
The search effort has been hampered by restricted access to La Guaira state and the requirement that volunteers obtain safe-entry passes. “You need a permit to save lives. Just imagine,” would-be rescuer Carlos Itriago, 27, said while waiting in line for permission to enter the disaster zone. “How many lives have we already lost by now?”
The first United States military aid flights have landed in Caracas, and a naval ship is offshore as foreign search and rescue teams arrive with dogs and specialised equipment.
The United Nations says up to 6.76 million people may need shelter, safe water and medical care, warning the death toll and the number of bodies recovered are likely to keep rising as the rescue phase gives way to grim recovery.
Powerful back-to-back earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 25 2026, causing widespread damage, a rising death toll and thousands of injuries. [Matias Delacroix/AP Photo]A woman cries next to damaged buildings two days after an earthquake struck in La Guaira. [Matias Delacroix/AP Photo]A firefighter yells through a tube to people under the rubble of a collapsed building in La Guaira, Venezuela, as emergency workers try to reach them. [Gaby Oraa/Reuters]Volunteers lift a metal gate as they search through debris on the rubble of collapsed buildings in Catia La Mar in La Guaira state. [Federico Parra/AFP]Identification cards and photographs of missing people are left on the window of a dirt-covered car by relatives searching for information in Catia La Mar, two days after twin earthquakes struck the country. [Fernando Vergara/AP Photo]Ezequiel Frontado looks at covered bodies while searching for missing relatives. [Fernando Vergara/AP Photo]Members of the French Civil Security Training and Intervention Regiment help residents in the search for victims in a country that was already suffering through an economic and healthcare crisis before the quakes. [Miguel Medina/Pool/Reuters]Quake survivors line up for food in La Guaira as foreign aid has started to arrive in Venezuela. [Matias Delacroix/AP Photo]Houses damaged and burned by fires in the earthquakes stand in Catia La Mar. [Fernando Vergara/AP Photo]Family members and neighbours of Jhonquer Cerpas, 13, comfort one another as emergency workers try to rescue him in La Guaira. [Maxwell Briceno/Reuters]
