Why Venezuela is so prone to destructive earthquakespublished at 15:25 BST

15:25 BST

Esme Stallard
Senior climate and science reporter

Venezuela is located near the boundary of two tectonic plates, the Caribbean plate and the South American plate.

Both tectonic plates try to pass over each other and sometimes they get stuck and energy builds up.

When they finally start moving again, enormous amounts of energy are released, making Venezuela prone to earthquakes.

The displacement of the Caribbean plate to the east of the South American plate, at a rate of two centimetres per year according to scientists' estimates, explains the seismic movements in the country.

Image source, UK ISAR

Six search dogs from the UK have travelled to Venezuela and are assisting the UK International Search & Rescue team (UK ISAR), the British government says.

The Foreign Office says rescuers are also being supported by the Royal Air Force, with "specialist rescue equipment and drones" being used to support life-saving operations.

UK ISAR, which has 68 specialists in the country, says its teams are now working across five different sites, with its search dogs being used to "detect signs of life within collapsed structures".

Earlier, West Midlands Fire Service's Mark Leeson, who is in Venezuela as part of the UK-wide team, told the BBC that the window for finding survivors was shrinking, but adds "every now and then you will get that miracle rescue".

Image source, UK ISAR

The mayor of the Chacao municipality - an area in Venezuela's capital Caracas - says 26 people and five pets have been rescued from the rubble in the district.

In a video update, shared on social media at 20:00 local time on Sunday night, Gustavo Duque says he regrets to report that 48 people have died following the earthquakes.

"Here, no-one is going to give up. Hundreds of civil protection public servants are still looking for debris in the hope of finding a neighbour alive," Duque adds.

Duque says "we will not give up" and adds search and rescue efforts are continuing with the hope of finding survivors.

Locals with crowbars, mallets and pickaxes try to dig out loved onespublished at 14:37 BST

14:37 BST

Will Grant
Reporting from La Guaira

Image source, Reuters

The improvised nature of so much of the search and rescue effort is clear from the kinds of tools people are using.

We have seen men and women equipped with little more than crowbars, mallets and pickaxes, wearing no more safety equipment than a bicycle helmet, trying to dig out their loved ones and neighbours from the rubble.

At the other end of the scale, of course, the international rescue teams have the necessary equipment from torches and sniffer dogs to stretchers and medical equipment.

The Venezuelan firefighters and emergency services may be underfunded but they’re still able to bring so much more kit, expertise and support to the search than desperate ordinary residents.

Earth-moving equipment is being used across La Guaira and other affected areas but where it is being deployed is patchy and sporadic. We have seen people work for days on a single building alone, only to have the heavy machinery move in once it’s too late.

In truth, though, what is missing is more of everything. More manpower, more machinery, more sniffer dogs, more support. And of course the one thing which no-one can provide: more time.

Image source, Nayib Bukele/X

A video posted on social media, external by the President of El Salvador appears to show a small, startled dog being pulled from a wreckage of an apartment building in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.

"We don't know his name, but he is in very good health," Nayib Bukele says. He earlier said rescue teams had been sent from El Salvador to help in Venezuela.

President Bukele has urged the owners of the dog to approach rescue teams at Residencias Karina, where the building stood, so they can be reunited.

Orla Guerin
Reporting from La Guaira, Venezuela

Image source, UK ISAR

There is more sign of the Venezuelan police and army on the streets in the worst affected areas of La Guaira state, but not in the rubble.

The main search and rescue efforts are still being carried out by local volunteers and international teams.

At every crushed building, where relatives wait for a body or a miracle rescue, there is anger against the authorities.

That includes Caraballeda on the coast, where a vast area looks like it has been upended by a giant hand.

Ruben Rojas, 32, an electrician by trade, has been digging in the rubble here since the twin quakes on Thursday, with only gloves and a hard hat. When I ask about government help, he shakes his head.

"The civil protection people decided to help, but they don’t have the equipment. The government doesn’t give it. They are just like us, working with their hands," he says.

That picture is reflected elsewhere. In the rubble of Catia La Mar, we met a university professor who is missing eight family members in two separate collapsed buildings.

He told us he had been contacting officials and pushing them to bring help to the site for three days.

To his frustration, there was no sign of the state until Sunday evening, when the pulverised apartment blocks had already become a grave for many.

Yogita Limaye
Reporting from Caracas

Warning: This post contains distressing details

At the hospital, we meet a family who has a story of miraculous survival, but also unbearable loss.

Twelve-year-old Angel Paredes is being discharged. He’s in a wheelchair with both his legs bandaged, but the injuries are minor. He spent nearly 36 hours under the rubble of his home before he was pulled out.

"He kept calling out to the rescuers; that’s how they found him," says his mother Ruth.

Visibly in shock, she tells us she’s lost seven members of her family - two young children, her husband, her mother, two sisters and a niece. Ruth survived unhurt because she was away at work.

Her hands shake as she shows us a photo on her mobile phone of her three-year-old son Alexander sitting on the shoulders of her husband Raymar.

"My little son was alive for a while. But the rescuers came too late. And they didn’t have the machines required to dig through the rubble faster. He died next to his father," she said.

The bodies of her mother, and her youngest, a one-and a half year old girl Aime, have not been found yet.

Ruth’s eyes well up with tears as she shows us videos of Aime.

As he’s wheeled out of the hospital, Angel says: "I am very close to my family. I loved my younger siblings so much. I spent 36 hours next to their dead bodies." His voice cracks as he speaks.

For now, they will be staying with friends. Like thousands of Venezuelans, they don’t have a home to go back to.

Jack Grey
Live reporter

Hundreds of aftershocks have been reported in Venezuela since the two magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes caused widespread devastation on Wednesday.

Venezuela's Foundation for Seismological Research is regularly reporting new aftershocks. However, many are below magnitude 3, which are not normally felt by humans.

However, earlier this afternoon a 4.6-magnitude quake was reported by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) off the coast of Caracas, which was widely felt but is reported to have caused no further damage.

Aftershocks are pretty much as the name suggests - smaller earthquakes that follow the main earthquake that are typically caused by parts of tectonic plates adjusting to changes in stress after the main quake.

Shallower earthquakes - as we’ve had in Venezuela - are more likely to be followed by aftershocks, according to the USGS, which can be dangerous for continuing rescue operations.

A powerful aftershock hit Venezuela early on Monday, shaking the area hit by last week's twin earthquakes again, according to the United States Geological Survey.

A magnitude-4.6 quake struck off the coast of Caracas, at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles), just after 07:00 local time (12:00 BST).

No damage was immediately reported, interim President Delcy Rodríguez said, according to Reuters.

Image source, Getty Images

The Netherlands is sending a naval vessel from Curaçao to Venezuela to deliver emergency aid, the Dutch ministry of defence has announced.

Patrol vessel HNLMS Groningen, which the ministry says was scheduled to arrive yesterday evening, is delivering food, water and relief supplies.

It adds that the ship's crew will be available to provide emergency relief on site "in co-ordination with the Venezuelan authorities and the United Nations".

It comes as China announces it will donate 100 million yuan (£11.1 million) of emergency supplies to Venezuela, according to Reuters news agency.

Citing China's foreign ministry, it reports that the supplies will be sent as soon as possible, with Beijing willing to provide additional support if needed.

Image source, X / @nayibbukele

A 21-year-old man has been rescued in La Guaira state by rescue teams from Venezuela, Mexico, and El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele from El Salvador says.

Aaron Levi Cantillo Vargas was found alive beneath rubble in the town of Caraballeda, but between the rescuers and Aaron lay the body of a deceased person, President Bukele posted earlier - complicating the rescue.

The 21-year-old is now receiving specialised medical attention, Bukele says, adding that the rescuers will "continue working with the hope of being able to save more lives".

Venezuela's Acting President Delcy Rodríguez says the rescue operation took 43 hours, after Aaron was trapped for 106 hours.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

A website to help people find their relatives or friends hospitalised after the earthquakes struck has been launched, with 2,853 patients across three states registered so far.

There are 11 hospitals in La Guaira and Caracas on the site - localizapacientes.com, external, which translates as 'locate patients.com'.

Families can search by first name, last name or ID numbers to find out which hospital their relative is in, the website says.

A civilian-run missing persons site suggests the number of those missing in Venezuela is much higher, with more than 46,000 people registered as unreachable.

But these figures may not be entirely accurate, as they rely on people confirming whether or not they have since been found safe.

Yogita Limaye
Reporting from Caracas

The walls outside the Miguel Perez Carreño hospital in Caracas are filling up with photos of those missing after the earthquake.

Tens of thousands are still missing and families are going from hospital to hospital in search of their loved ones.

By the hour, people come with photos of their families printed on flyers and stick them on the walls.

We met Yerinker Bermudez, who’s searching for his friends who lived in his building in La Guaira.

He’s using a cane to walk and is injured. He tells us he had a narrow escape because the earthquake struck his building which collapsed just as he was entering it.

Anger at his government spills out as he speaks: "The police and government didn’t help us. We pulled the dead and survivors out ourselves, along with neighbours and volunteers.

"We dug through the rubble with our bare hands," he says pointing to his hands.

Behind him crowds are gathered scouring a list of the injured admitted to this hospital, hoping to find a familiar name.

Inside the hospital, the beds are full and medics are working at a frantic pace.

Dr Santiago Casanova, who works at the hospital told us the first few days were extremely challenging: "But now we aren’t receiving as many injured so the situation has stabilised here."

That, of course, is because as the days roll by, fewer people are being pulled out from the rubble alive.

Caroline Souza
BBC News visual journalism, Americas Hub

Satellite images from 26 June, provided by Vantor, show the scale of devastation in the once affluent coastal town of Caraballeda, in the state of La Guaira, just north of Caracas.

The image from before the earthquakes shows high rise buildings next to the Caraballeda Golf and Yacht Club, once a symbol of the area’s prosperity and opulence.

After the earthquakes there is nothing left of the two tall twin buildings and others in the surrounding area.

Caraballeda, once known for its 1990s luxury tourism industry, has seen much of its infrastructure badly affected.

Hotels, residential complexes and the marina are among the buildings that have been reduced to piles of rubble.

The Caraballeda Golf and Yacht Club has now been turned into a makeshift hospital and relief centre, offering support and shelter to those affected, and as a collection point for receiving clothing donations and humanitarian aid.

Search and rescue teams from around the world are working on the ground in Venezuela in attempt to locate any remaining survivors following last week's earthquakes.

Teams from the UK, US, France and Turkey have been pictured joining emergency operations over the last few days.

Image source, UKIsar

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, says rescue teams from El Salvador, Mexico and Venezuela have located a 21-year-old alive in La Guaira state and are currently working to rescue him.

A doctor has been able to administer fluids to keep the boy, named as Aaron Levi Cantillo Vargas, hydrated, Bukele writes on X.

But between the rescuers and Aaron "lies the body of a deceased person", which Bukele says is "complicating the efforts to reach him".

"At this moment, we are working to recover the body with the utmost respect and care possible, in the hope of being able to reach Aaron in the coming hours," Bukele adds.

Image source, Reuters

A survivor of the earthquakes that have devastated parts of Venezuela has complained about the lack of support he feels is being provided by the government to rescue those trapped.

The unidentified man, who himself was searching for missing relatives, tells the Reuters news agency in La Guaira that "we want support; we want heavy machinery".

"We want to take our family members with us. I’m not the only one in this situation. They’re almost not going to let us in here anymore. They haven’t helped us clear the rubble," he says.

He says there were 300 people in the building he's been searching, but that only 80 people have been recovered, either alive or dead.

"We have no choice; we don’t have help," he adds.

Norberto Paredes
BBC Mundo correspondent, reporting from La Guaira

Outside José María Vargas Hospital in La Guaira, a sense of desperation hangs in the air. Dozens of people crowd the entrance, searching for relatives missing after Wednesday’s double earthquake. To help, health authorities have posted a list of hospitalized patients.

Anxious faces scan the names in silence, caught between fear and hope.

A few metres away, Ali Rodríguez, a 50-year-old motorcycle taxi driver, says he was trapped for eight hours under the rubble of a supermarket before being rescued.

“When the shaking started, I tried to run with my wife, but we were dragged back inside. We ended up buried together, chest to chest, with a sheet of zinc through us. There was a child next to me… he died. An eight-year-old boy,” he says, his voice shaking.

“We were saved by looters [who came into the supermarket where we were trapped] — they were the ones who gave us this second chance,” he says, criticising the slow official response.

Their 10-year-old son had stayed at home while they went shopping. He has no news of him and refuses to leave the hospital, as he hopes his son will be brought there.

His wife has been transferred to a hospital in Caracas but he says he will stay there until his son appears.

"I think he's alive, but I'm afraid he thinks we're dead [...] I'm sure he must be looking for me."

Image source, Reuters

A woman from Caracas has described watching her apartment collapse around her following the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes that hit Venezuela last Wednesday.

Susana Saavedra tells the Reuters news agency that she had just stepped out of her bedroom when the first quake hit, a decision she says saved her life.

"Right then, the shaking started. I stood under the pillar and watched as the kitchen and the bedroom collapsed around me. Everything just kept collapsing—everything," she says.

The rear of Saavedra's building has been completely destroyed, reports Reuters, with six bodies having been recovered from the structure.

"I feel very sad because of the loss of our neighbours. At least I was lucky enough to save my own life. But our neighbours - young people, full of life - were left in the rubble," Saavedra adds.

"I imagine that if I hadn’t left my room, I, too, would have been in that rubble and wouldn’t have survived."

Alice Cuddy
Senior international reporter, in Caracas

A mother who was pulled from the rubble of her wrecked home in Venezuela with her 18-day-old baby has told the BBC how her newborn son helped keep her alive.

Dayana Patino was in her eigth-floor apartment with her son, Juan David, in the northern coastal region of La Guaira when the earthquakes hit.

She says she instantly rushed to cradle her son, but then says she felt as if she was "flying", adding: "I felt like I was sinking in water and dirt, and then I fell into the pit where I remained".

"I don't know how I didn't let go of my baby because I was flying. I got crushed against furniture," she adds.

She and her son remained trapped under the rubble until her screams managed to alert rescuers, who were able to extract the pair on Thursday night.

"As long as he was alive, I was going to be alive. Every now and then I was touching his nose for proof that he was still breathing," Dayana says.

Footage of the rescue has been shared around the world, with Juan David becoming a symbol of hope in Venezuela, which has been devastated by the twin earthquakes that hit the country on Wednesday - killing at least 1,450 people.

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