Death toll from Venezuela quakes rises to 3,535

The death toll from Venezuela's twin earthquakes has risen to 3,535, according to numbers released by politician Jorge Rodriguez.

The 24 June disaster flattened entire neighborhoods in La Guaira north of the capital Caracas and thousands are still reported missing.

The latest tally puts the number of injured at 16,740 and shows that the number of homeless has risen to 17,854.

Yesterday, in a speech commemorating Venezuela's ‌215th independence day, interim President Delcy Rodríguez ⁠defended the government's actions ‌following the earthquakes.

Her remarks came amid growing frustration over ⁠what ‌many have called a delayed and inadequate response to the disaster.

Ms Rodríguez ⁠said she deployed security forces ⁠immediately and announced the creation of a new military unit to help deal with emergencies and disasters.

She said the country would not descend into social unrest after one of Latin America's worst earthquake disasters.

The government has not given any figure for those still missing, but the UN estimates that as many as 50,000 people may still be unaccounted for after the shocks.

Many families are still trying to search for relatives in the rubble.

While survivors are living in temporary camps on the street, in public parks or car parks.

Even before the earthquakes, Venezuela had been struggling with economic crisis and political upheaval that left infrastructure and health services depleted.

The UN estimates the earthquakes caused $6.7 billion (€5.8bn) in damage - equivalent to six percent of Venezuela's GDP.
The damaged international airport serving Caracas is still closed to commercial flights.

Soon after the earthquakes, many Venezuelans complained they were left alone to dig for families in the ruins and criticized the government's response until international teams arrived.

In a secluded area of La Esperanza cemetery in La Guaira, gravediggers buried more than 150 bodies still unidentified since the earthquakes.

A line of simple white crosses with small bouquets at their foot marked a long row of individual graves.

Each one had the same date of death: 24 June 24 2026.

Two excavators were working to dig more graves in the light brown earth.

"We are first and foremost overcome with grief," said local resident Eli Zavala, who was helping with the burials.

"We started here on July 25th, the very next day, to do all the work ... so that all those people could have dignified burials."