Venezuela earthquake death toll rises to 1,430 as over 3,200 suffer injuries

The death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela has climbed to 1,430, with 3,238 people injured and 3,142 families displaced, authorities confirmed on Saturday as international rescue efforts intensified.

President of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, disclosed that emergency officials have also recorded about 430 aftershocks since the powerful 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes devastated the country’s coastal region around La Guaira on Wednesday.

With rescue operations entering a critical phase, thousands of residents in the worst-hit communities have continued searching for survivors with bare hands amid a shortage of government rescue personnel. Humanitarian organisations warned that hopes of finding more survivors were fading as the crucial 72-hour rescue window closed.

Relief operations received a boost after the first United States humanitarian flights landed in Caracas. According to CNN, a senior official in the administration of US President Donald Trump said Washington was maintaining close coordination with Venezuela’s interim authorities on both political and military fronts to speed up emergency assistance.

The official said one runway at Simón Bolívar International Airport near Caracas had resumed operations, allowing more humanitarian flights to arrive, while the second runway remained heavily damaged and unusable due to extensive cracks caused by the earthquakes.

The United States has also deployed mobile hospitals, additional Starlink communication terminals and further humanitarian supplies to support relief efforts. Two American search-and-rescue teams, each comprising 80 personnel, have already assisted in locating survivors trapped beneath collapsed buildings.

Responding to reports that aid was struggling to reach some of the hardest-hit communities, the US official attributed the delays mainly to logistical challenges rather than restrictions on access. The official explained that numerous international rescue teams were competing for limited airport capacity while relief agencies worked to determine which airfields and transport routes remained operational.

The official further disclosed that the USS Fort Lauderdale had arrived off Venezuela’s coast and was being used to airlift injured victims, provide advanced medical care, coordinate humanitarian logistics and support ongoing rescue operations.

Despite the growing international response, millions of Venezuelans remain without adequate shelter, clean water, sanitation and electricity as emergency agencies continue to warn that humanitarian needs are escalating across the disaster zone.