(Al Jazeera Media Network) International rescue teams have joined an urgent search for survivors in Venezuela, where people remain trapped under collapsed buildings after two devastating earthquakes on Wednesday.
Countries from across the Americas – including Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador, Cuba and the United States – as well as the United Nations, continued on Friday to send search and rescue teams and humanitarian aid in the aftermath of the quakes.
“To the Venezuelan people, to those whose loved ones are under the rubble, know that we are determined that help gets to you,” said the UN’s aid chief, Tom Fletcher.
The earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5, were among the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century and were felt across the region.
The official death toll from the twin earthquakes rose to 920, lawmaker Jorge Rodriguez, president of the national assembly, said on Friday. Some 3,000 other people are wounded.
The hospitals are “full of patients,” according to Venezuela’s Health Minister Carlos Alvarado. Hundreds more are believed to be trapped under rubble.
The US, which in January carried out a military operation culminating in the abduction of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, has pledged what it called a “whole-of-government response,” which includes plans to deploy warships, transport planes and helicopters, as well as to mobilise $150 million in aid.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the response would be “big… fast and… effective”.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced the dispatch of a field hospital, as well as dozens of firefighters and other support personnel.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said he had readied 300 rescuers and paramedics, and 50 tonnes of equipment, medicines and basic supplies.
Cuban health workers were already “fully mobilised and providing medical services to the affected population,” said Havana’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country was dispatching a military team of rescuers and medical personnel and would send further assistance if necessary.
