As Venezuela quake toll crosses 3,000, focus turns to burials

CATIA LA MAR, Venezuela — Deaths from Venezuela's devastating twin earthquakes surpassed 3,000 on Sunday as officials began to bury dozens of bodies left unidentified days after the disaster.

The June 24 double shocks, one of Latin America's worst quake disasters, toppled scores of buildings in the La Guaira coastal area north of Caracas and left thousands of people missing.

As international rescue teams packed up and ended attempts to find survivors, attention shifted to mourning those lost and burying the remains that families have recovered from the ruins.

In a secluded area of La Esperanza cemetery in La Guaira, gravediggers buried more than 150 bodies still unidentified since the earthquakes, AFP journalists reported.

A line of simple white crosses with small bouquets at their feet marked a long row of individual graves. Each one had the same date of death: June 24, 2026.

Two excavators were working to dig more graves in the light brown earth.

"We are first and foremost overcome with grief," said local resident Eli Zavala, who was helping with the burials.

"We started here on July 25, the very next day, to do all the work … so that all those people could have dignified burials."

According to updated official figures on Sunday, at least 3,342 people died and another 16,700 were injured. Since the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck on June 24, Venezuela has recorded 995 aftershocks, according to the update.

With nearly 200 buildings totally collapsed, most of them in La Guaira, more than 17,000 people have been left homeless and are sleeping in shelters and temporary camps.

The government has not given any figure for those still missing, but the UN estimates that as many as 50,000 people may still be unaccounted for after the shocks.

Searching in the rubble

Many families are still trying to search for relatives in the rubble.

"I've lost track of the days. You lose your mind, but I'm not leaving here because I know he's there," said Zuly, looking for her son in the Catia La Mar district.

She now sleeps in a plaza near where he worked.

"I found his motorcycle, I found his helmet. He's there, God willing, alive. If not, at least I can find him, see him ... I'm not leaving here without my son."

Even before the quakes, Venezuela had been struggling with an economic crisis and political upheaval that left infrastructure and health services depleted.

The UN estimates the quakes caused $6.7 billion in damage — equivalent to 6 percent of Venezuela's GDP.

The damaged international airport serving Caracas is still closed to commercial flights.

On Monday, China's quake relief supplies arrived in Venezuela.

The flight departed on Sunday, carrying more than 80 metric tons of relief materials provided by the Chinese government. It included tents, blankets, emergency water purification vehicles, solar lamps, mist sprayers, and power generators.

China had previously provided emergency humanitarian cash assistance to support the country's disaster relief efforts.

AGENCIES VIA XINHUA