Venezuela Quake Death Toll Rises to 6,125

CARACAS:
The death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24 has risen to 6,125, according to an official update released by National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez.

The report, posted on Rodriguez’s Telegram channel on Monday, said the number of people rescued remains at 6,462, while 60,992 people have received hospital treatment.

Authorities have delivered 287 homes to families affected by the earthquakes and evaluated 43,679 buildings across the country, the update said.

The Venezuelan government has used a traffic-light tagging system to assess building habitability. Green tags indicate habitable structures, yellow tags mark restricted access, while red tags identify high-risk buildings that may be subject to demolition, Xinhua news agency reported.

The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24, with epicenters in the western state of Yaracuy and the central state of La Guaira, respectively.

La Guaira, the coastal state where the two quakes caused the most damage, has 10,981 people in shelters, while Caracas has 6,133 and the central state of Miranda has 1,323, Rodriguez said earlier.

Earlier, Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez expressed gratitude for the humanitarian aid provided by 28 countries to support victims of the country’s recent quakes.

She made the remarks after inspecting a collection centre in Caracas, where more than 2,000 tons of international aid are sorted for distribution to temporary camps housing victims of the June 24 earthquakes.

“Venezuela never tires of thanking the countries, the peoples of the world, and the governments of the world that have offered a helping hand,” Rodriguez said.

“Each country will be able to see how its aid is being used so that the Venezuelan people feel the friendly helping hand of that country,” she added.

Thanks to the international response to the tragedy, Venezuela knows it is not alone, said Rodriguez. “The most important thing is to look to the future, how we are going to recover, how we are going to rebuild the affected areas.”