Venezuela Shaken Again: 4.9 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Days After Deadly Twin Quakes Kill Over 900

New Delhi: Days after the destruction caused by twin earthquakes that flattened buildings and claimed nearly 1,000 lives, a new earthquake struck off the northern coast of Venezuela on Friday afternoon.  

Witnesses in Caracas and Maracay reported feeling the tremor, which the earthquake monitor EMSC recorded as a magnitude 4.9 event.  

Meanwhile, desperate Venezuelans and rescue teams raced ​to find survivors on Friday as the death toll from twin earthquakes rose above 900 with foreign crews and aid only beginning to reach devastated areas nearly two days after the ‌quakes.

The government said 172 people remained trapped, 920 were dead and 3,360 injured after the quakes devastated parts of Caracas and surrounding areas on Wednesday evening. More than 50,000 people were reported missing.

Frustration mounted over the uneven pace of relief in some of the hardest-hit areas including La Guaira state, where residents and volunteers were still digging through rubble by hand amid shortages of heavy equipment and limited ​official presence.

How world came forward to help

Foreign rescue teams- including some from countries long at odds with Venezuela - began arriving late on Thursday and into Friday.

Rodriguez spoke by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday. Earlier she and other officials met with the U.S. military's Northern Command and disaster experts.

The U.S. said it was mobilizing $150 ​million in aid and easing sanctions while the U.S. ​military dispatched two ships and said helicopters and ⁠aircraft would support rescue efforts.

In the beachside neighborhood of Los Corales, 50 members of El Salvador's rescue team were assessing the ruins of three 10-story buildings using drones, heat scanners and dogs to locate survivors.

"People have told us they can hear people. They call them on the phone and they answer, and they can hear people screaming ​and calling," said Roberto Gavidia, the head of the team.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele shared a video on X of the team preparing to enter one ​building, saying they had discovered ⁠a 15-year-old trapped with her pet on the ninth floor and were working to free them.

Nation Under Strain

The quakes struck a nation already weakened by decades of economic and political turmoil that has impoverished residents, driven millions abroad and weakened infrastructure.

"My building is uninhabitable and now I have nothing. It's just me and my son, and I have no family in the country," said Suhayl Sarquiz, 50, who lost her job a few months ago.

The U.S. Geological Survey ⁠estimated more than ​10,000 deaths were possible, which would make the disaster one of Latin America's deadliest earthquakes of the last century.

Nearly 7 million people could ​be affected, the U.N.'s migration agency said, as it supplied emergency shelter and other relief items.

(With Reuters input)