LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — Rescue teams scrambled through collapsed buildings Thursday as Venezuelans desperately searched for survivors following two powerful earthquakes that officials say have claimed at least 164 lives, with fears that the death toll will climb much higher.
The two quakes — measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude — struck Wednesday evening and rank among the most powerful to hit Venezuela in over a century. Nearly 1,000 people were injured, and thousands remain unaccounted for across the country. The coastal region of La Guaira, located north of the capital city of Caracas, suffered some of the most severe destruction and loss of life, according to officials.
The tremors were powerful enough to prompt building evacuations as far away as Brazil’s Amazon region, roughly 1,700 kilometers (about 1,050 miles) from Caracas. Venezuela’s main airport sustained damage and was forced to close.
Across northern Venezuela, frightened residents flooded into the streets, picking through debris in search of missing loved ones. Television footage captured rescue workers cutting through mountains of rubble with power tools in an effort to reach those trapped inside.
In La Guaira, retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendaño made his way through the wreckage, stepping past a body, when he spotted a woman pinned beneath the debris, waving her hand for help.
