Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / Venezuela earthquakes death toll rises to 235 as search for survivors continues

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Venezuela earthquakes death toll rises to 235 as search for survivors continues · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We begin the program in Venezuela, where officials say at
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: least two hundred and thirty five people are now known
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: to have died in Wednesday's powerful back to back earthquakes.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Large numbers of people are still unaccounted for as rescue
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: teams try to find survivors in the rubble of collapse buildings.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: These are live scenes coming to us from the capital Caracas.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: The second of the quakes was the strongest in Venezuela
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  Speaker 1: since nineteen hundred. The country's interim president, Dalcia Rodriguez, said
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: that her government's absolute priority was to find as many
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: survivors as possible as she visited the worst hit area,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: the state of Lagaria. Joe Inwood has our report.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: In Laguaya, Whole blocks reduced to rubble, the city a
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: scene of destruction, devastation and despair for people like Carolina
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: who cannot find her Sun.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: The only thing I could say is that I have
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  Speaker 3: my heart in my hands and I don't know what
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  Speaker 3: to do. I asked God for all of us, because
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: this is something that there where you see that nothing.
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: I don't know where he is.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: And this was the moment on Wednesday evening, when two
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: major earthquakes struck in quick succession, the first magnitude seven
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: point two the second seven point five.
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  Speaker 5: I started hearing massive thunder sounds, and by the time
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: I looked around, everyone else that was outside of the
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: boxing ring I was in was already crowded under the
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: pillar and supports and started screaming. The earthquake lasted what
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: felt like a really long time. It felt like about
• 1:51
  Speaker 5: thirty seconds. The local people there were were screaming for
• 1:58
  Speaker 5: God to save us.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: The town of Laguayra on the coast was worst hits,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: but the capital, Caracas was also badly affected. There chains
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: of people formed to help clear the huge piles of
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: debris and search for survivors. Venezuela is a poor country
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: that has suffered from years of economic mismanagement and corruption.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: The acting President, Delcy Rodriguez has promised that heavy machinery
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: and aid will get to the affected areas as.
• 2:30
  Speaker 6: Soon as possible, and we are now declaring a state
• 2:35
  Speaker 6: of emergency as provided for in our constitution. I want
• 2:39
  Speaker 6: to thank the governments of the world that, immediately after
• 2:41
  Speaker 6: these earthquakes occurred, contacted Venezuela to offer solidarity and.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Support, and those promises of aid have come in from
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: all over the world, but notably from the US. They
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: recently captured Venezuela's longtime president in a controversial military operation.
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  Speaker 2: The White House has now said it will see around
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty million dollars in aid, and time
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: is of the essence. No one knows how many but
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: people are trapped under this rubble. Some will still be
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: alive for now. Graciela was pulled out by rescuers many
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: hours after her building collapsed.
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  Speaker 4: When the earthquake started. I clung as tightly as I
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  Speaker 4: could to the doorframe, so tightly that I broke my finger.
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  Speaker 4: I held untight, really tight to the doorframe until all
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: the floors collapsed.
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  Speaker 2: With every hour that passes, the chances of finding people
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  Speaker 2: alive goes down. This was the worst natural disaster to
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: hit Venezuela in decades. The cost it has inflicted continues
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  Speaker 2: to grow. Joe in Woods, BBC News.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I've been speaking to Victoria Aguire, who has family
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  Speaker 1: in Venezuela, and I began by asking her exactly how
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: her family were.
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  Speaker 3: Everybody's a life and save Everybody managed to make it
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: out safely out of their homes. They're still quite shaken
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  Speaker 3: and reeling from all of this, but physically they're okay.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, So what did they share with you in terms
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: of their experience when those earthquakes struck.
• 4:18
  Speaker 7: There was a lot of.
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  Speaker 3: Uncertainty, a lot of don't know what to do, especially
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: because this is the biggest tragedy that has happened in
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  Speaker 3: the last almost eighty years. So obviously the first reaction is,
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: let's try and get the older members of the family out,
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  Speaker 3: make sure that we all get out. And then seeing
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  Speaker 3: the neighborhood, like their neighborhood, come down, it is quite
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: a hearing picture to see.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: You said, they've managed to get out, where are they.
• 4:55
  Speaker 7: There are still in their homes.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Homes were thankfully one of the few that besides material
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  Speaker 3: damage from the inside, lots of like cutlery and stuff
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  Speaker 3: and other personal items seem to be okay. We're still
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: assessing the foundational cracks and stuff. So if it's still
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: safe for them to keep in their homes, but they're
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: keeping around their area.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know that we've heard the story of
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  Speaker 1: how you do have extremes in Venezuela. You know, new
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  Speaker 1: modern buildings and probably have a lot more safety measures
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to natural disasters like this, but then
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: you have those that aren't so lucky. Are you hearing
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: any stories of people who have completely lost their homes?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been NonStop online. You'll see people sharing the
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: videos of their homes or video of their neighborhoods, their
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  Speaker 3: video of them showing you this is where my building
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: is to stand, and it's completely down to rubble.
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  Speaker 1: And very quickly. In terms of access to power, to water,
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  Speaker 1: what are you hearing on that.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: Uh blast, I've heard the gas main has been shot
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  Speaker 3: down since yesterday to avoid risk of explosion with everything
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  Speaker 3: that was happening with that. Access to clean water is
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  Speaker 3: very limited unless you have access to either one of
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: the welfare centers that are being set up, the pop
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  Speaker 3: up centers, or if you're able to mobilize yourself to
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  Speaker 3: one of the bigger meet up points like the stadium
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  Speaker 3: or bigger shopping centers. It's it's very difficult to get
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  Speaker 3: clean and reliable water and electricity as well.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Victoria, just thinking ahead, what are your family's main concerns
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  Speaker 1: right now? What are they worried about the most?
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  Speaker 7: Immediately trying to make sense of everybody who's still missing, thankfully,
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  Speaker 7: my immediate family is not missing anybody, but that does
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  Speaker 7: not exclude us from knowing.
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  Speaker 3: Somebody who does. So obviously it's it's immediately trying to
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: find answers. It's also trying to assess is.
• 7:20
  Speaker 7: It safe for us to stay here?
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  Speaker 3: Is it safe either because there's cracks in the foundation,
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  Speaker 3: or is it safe because we're getting active help and
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: aid with food and as you said, electricity and stuff,
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  Speaker 3: and overall is it safe to move around? Because one
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: of the major highways near Karrakas was also affected. It
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: fully cracked open, so it's a it's a lot about safety.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: I think that was Victoria a Guerre speaking to me earlier.