Venezuela quake toll climbs to 2,595 as damage estimates mount after strongest tremor in a century

The death toll from twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela rose to 2,595, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said Friday, an increase of 300 from the previous day, as rescue operations continued for more than a week after the country’s strongest tremors in over a century, CNBC reported.

The government has not concluded its search and rescue efforts, Rodríguez said in her first press conference since taking power in January after the U.S. military operation that captured the country’s president Nicolás Maduro.

More than 12,000 people have been injured, Rodríguez said, without specifying how many remain missing. According to an unofficial and widely circulated online list, some 38,500 people were still unaccounted for, down from nearly 60,000 in the days immediately after the quakes.

A magnitude 7.2 quake was followed seconds later by a 7.5 mainshock last Wednesday, the strongest tremors to hit Venezuela since 1900. The quakes flattened buildings across Caracas and La Guaira — the coastal state that was hardest hit — and severely damaged Simón Bolívar International Airport, the main gateway to the capital.

Nearly all the officials from La Guaira were killed in the disaster, Rodríguez said.