Harrowing new aerial footage shows the quake-ravaged landscape of Venezuela as a massive international rescue effort gets underway amid a rapidly rising death toll, which officials said has topped 900.
The heartbreaking drone video features massive residential buildings reduced to rubble along the port city of La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit areas of the country, with before-and-after shots highlighting the devastation.
At least 920 have died and 3,360 were injured in the tragedy, authorities said, but the United States Geological Survey said there’s a 40% chance the death toll could climb to 10,000 and a 30% chance it will eclipse 100,000.
President Trump pledged the US would provide whatever support Venezuela needed in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, and the State Department soon thereafter announced it was sending $150 million in aid.
US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced Friday that Urban Search and Rescue teams based in Los Angeles and Fairfax, Virginia are being transported by two US Air Force C-17 Globemaster aircraft, while a US Air Force C-17 is delivering load-movement equipment to Caracas.
“US Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys will transport an airfield assessment team to Venezuela to support airport operations that were impacted near the earthquake epicenter,” it added.
Meanwhile, USS Fort Lauderdale and USS Billings have already arrived in waters near Venezuela to help, according to SOUTHCOM. Three US Army CH-47 Chinooks and crews from Joint Task Force-Bravo are set to leave Honduras to support the transport of key personnel and supplies that are helping the South America country.
“The command’s US Space Force component is providing satellite imagery of devastated areas to disaster relief planners in Venezuela to aid them in assessing where immediate live-saving and aid efforts are needed most and identifying what capability requests to prioritize,” SOUTHCOM added.
Neighboring countries have also been pitching in for the rescue effort.
Venezuelan neighbor Colombia said it was sending humanitarian aid along with more than 60 rescuers and four dogs, while Chile has sent a specialized Urban Search and Rescue unit of its fire department, Reuters reports.
El Salvador has dispatched some 300 rescuers and paramedics, and is sending 50 metric tons of humanitarian aid to the country, and Panama has said it will send a rescue mission to Venezuela.
Reuters reports the Dominican Republic sent a rescue team, and that Mexico offered up 250 military rescue personnel, five rescue dogs, four aircraft, a drone, rescue equipment and medical supplies.
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Health workers from Cuba that are in Venezuela are fully mobilized and helping, according to Cuba’s foreign minister.
The twin 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes struck the poverty-stricken South American nation Wednesday night, the strongest temblors in the area in more than a century.
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