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Venezuela earthquakes kill at least 32, with 700 injured · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We start in Venezuela, where the country's interim president Delci
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Rodriguez has declared a state of emergency following two strong
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: earthquakes in quick succession in the past few minutes. She
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: has said that at least thirty two people have been
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: killed and seven hundred injured. So these are live pictures
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: where the number of buildings have collapsed in the capital Caraca.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Some apartment blocks have been reduced to rubble. The main
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: airport that serves the city has been severely damaged and
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: is closed. Emergency services and volunteers have been trying to
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: reach those trapped inside collapsed buildings. The authorities haven't yet
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: released official casualty numbers, but one early estimate by the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: US Geological Survey suggests they could be extremely high, in
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the thousands. In a social media post, President Trump has
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: promised help, adding he had instructed US federal agencies to
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: be ready to move quickly. Aruna Ayanga reports.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Emergency workers helped dig out the injured from collapsed at
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: multi story buildings in Venezuela's capital, Caracas. Residents were frantic
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: trying to find news of their loved ones. This footage
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: was taken from inside a BBC reporter's flat in the city,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Venezuela's main international airport was forced to close a collapse
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  Speaker 2: building in Checau Municipality. People outside shouted the names of
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: relatives as rescuers climbed over the rubble. The seven point
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: two magnitude tremor struck near San Felipe city, west of
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Caracas at around six pm local time. That was followed
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  Speaker 2: less than a minute later by a more powerful seven
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  Speaker 2: point five magnitude quake.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: It was just at the time that people were getting
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: all the words before even at Leisada, Venezuela, by this
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: crypt of jakes very strong in the capital. In my home,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: I can't see how many these fell down. I'm broken
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: in my building, I neighborhood, one of my neighborhoods. She
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: fell down and breakwaller her arms.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: The full scale of this disaster could take days to uncover,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: with officials fearing the impact could lead to a high
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: number of casualties. Aaruna Ayenger BBC news.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Our Central America correspondent Will Grant scent this update.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: The twin earthquakes struck in the state of Kada Boba,
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: about two hundred kilometers outside Kadakas one at around seven
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: point one magnitude, the next seven point five, and the
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: effects were felt right the way through to the Colombian
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: capital Bobada. They were certainly, very, very keighly and powerfully
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: felt in the Venezuelan capital Kadakas, where buildings have been
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: brought down in a number of neighborhoods. I've been speaking
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: to a journalist in the Sandbed and nad Dinor neighborhood
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: in the north, and she's outside a building where residents
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: say there are people trapped outside and there are emergency
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: services on the scene. It was a national holiday in Venezuela,
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: so many families would have been at home enjoying each
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: other company when the earthquakes struck. There's not been an
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: event this powerful for some time. It's very reminiscent of
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: the earthquakes in Venezuela in nineteen sixty seven in Kanakas,
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: which have left a real scar on the collective memory
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: of the city. Real concern about aftershocks, meaning that many
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: people are staying outside of their apartment buildings until they're
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: completely convinced it's safe to go back inside. Indeed, the
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: Interior Minister Diostalcoeo has told many people to stay outside
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: their buildings for fear of gas leaks, and gas has
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: been switched off to some parts of the city. This
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: is still an emerging picture. It's not clear just how
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: many people could have been caught in those buildings, but
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: certainly emergency services will be working through the night to
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: try and reach them in what is a very very
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: serious seismic event in Venezuela.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Well Grant there with some of the latest details details. Well,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: let's go live to Caracas now and speak to the
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: journalist Tony Frangier Mawad. Good to speak to you, Tony,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: So just describe the moment when these earthquakes took place.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Where were you?
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: Thank you for having me. I was actually in an
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: elevator in my own building. So there's a holiday in Venezuela,
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  Speaker 5: so there are no classes, most people don't go to work,
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: and I was actually heading out to watch a World
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: Cup game with my friends, and I went into the
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: elevator with one of my friends and the elevator started
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: moving really fast and shaking side to side and just
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: going all the way down, and we realized midway that
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: it was clearly an earthquake. Then it opened up in
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  Speaker 5: the basement of the building and we ran out and
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  Speaker 5: we start seeing many neighbors come out of the apartments
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  Speaker 5: and come down to the gardens of the building where
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: we stayed for a few hours. My family also came
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: out and tried to get some signal or some Wi
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: Fi connection because phone carriers started to fail. That's when
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  Speaker 5: I started to see the first reports that it was
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: not just a minor movement like we tend to see
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  Speaker 5: sometimes in Karakas, but rather a big one which we
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  Speaker 5: haven't seen since nineteen sixty seven, and that buildings, especially
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  Speaker 5: in north part of the city I was in the southeast,
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  Speaker 5: had collapsed. Then we also saw the reports from Laguaya,
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  Speaker 5: which the Siroriaz is now calling a sone disaster, and
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  Speaker 5: it seems that tens of thousands of buildings have also
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: collapsed in that area. So we don't know yet then
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: the number of casualties, but is expected to be high.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I was just going to say, that must have
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: been absolutely terrifying for you, Tony, and and your family,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: your friends, the people that you know. As you say,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: many many buildings have collapsed. How prepared is Venezuela for this,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: given the fact that you've not seen earthquakes have this
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  Speaker 1: scale for so many years.
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  Speaker 5: So after the sixty seven earthquake, buildings in Karakas are
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: required to be built to resist seismic activity, so actually
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: many of them were designed for that, and I feel
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  Speaker 5: that's one of the reasons why the collapses were not
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: that many in Karakas, unlike other areas like Laguayda. But nevertheless,
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: the state has been enduring and the whole society Venezuela
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  Speaker 5: a major crisis. In the last few years. We've seen
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: the collapse of basic services. We've seen a weekend state
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: with not too much capacity to act. So I'm afraid
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: that the capacity to act and the resources and the
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: people needed are actually quite limited. So right now we're seeing,
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: you know, the mayorships asking for water or for tools,
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: or for resources to help in the recovery efforts. And
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: through social media we're seeing Venezuela's posting about their missing
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: relatives and friends. The United States just said a few
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: hours ago that they're sending a major humanitarian response, so
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  Speaker 5: I suspect that help from abroad and from other countries
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: and organizations will be needed in Venezuela, especially in areas
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: I'll take Karakas.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because I was just assuming, you know, the medical facilities,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: hospitals will be overwhelmed with those who are pulled out
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: of the rubble who need emergency care straight away. It
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: could actually be quite overwhelming the state of what's required
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: now because as you say, so many buildings have collapsed.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Some are estimating they could be thousands in need.
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: Yes. In fact, earlier I was talking with other journalists
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: from abroad and they were asking me about the population
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: of Karakas, and part of the problem is that we
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: don't even know because there's no data. We haven't had
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: a census since twenty eleven, and then we have major
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: migration movements, both with in Venezuela and outside of Venezuela.
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  Speaker 5: So I feel that the country was already in a very,
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: very vulnerable and fragile state, and now this happens. It
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: also means that you have a very impoverished population that
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: I have seen their homes being destroyed or effect and
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: they cannot go back. So this is probably gonna have
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: a lot of consequences, and I feel that we don't
• 8:26
  Speaker 5: know yet the extent, but it's going to be deep
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: and wide in Minnesota society.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: And Tony, do you do you feel reassured to some
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: extent by the fact that the US is said, we're
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: ready and willing to come and help quickly. That's a
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: new relationship that has been broken this year following the
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: dramatic arrest and removal of President Maduro. I mean, does
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: this mean that you're the outcome of this could be
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: a lot better.
• 8:55
  Speaker 5: Yeah. I think that the hope of the US will
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: be crucial and definitely a game change. And also other
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: countries have offered their help. Rodriguez was talking about Latin
• 9:04
  Speaker 5: American countries, but the United Kingdom, about Arab countries and
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: multilateral organizations also offering their help, and I feel that's
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: going to be quite necessary. In fact, Lawuaya, which is
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: the area that's being mostly affected right now with many
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: many buildings collapse, also endure a major also enduring major
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: rain disaster a few decades ago in nineteen ninety nine,
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  Speaker 5: and part of the problem was that the government back
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: then didn't allow many aid from abroad to come. So
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: I think that's going to be a major game changer. Now.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: The worry, I guess is for the areas outside of
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the capital Caracas, the more rural, remote areas because this
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: was felt, wasn't it as far as Bocata, So I
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: mean it has had an impact far and wide.
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we've seen collapses in the north areas of Karakas,
• 9:55
  Speaker 5: which tend to go from the middle class and even
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: the lower middle class to upper class areas. Buildings in
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: those northern neighborhoods like San Bernardino, like Los collapse. There's
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: also reports in other mobile nerval areas of the city
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: like La Minae, Aruta and San Martin. But as I
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: said that, the biggest reports of damages come from Laguaya,
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: which is a coastal town on the other side of
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: the mountains that surround Caracas. That's where the airport is.
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: There's reports of tens of buildings falling and many missing people.
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: And there's also reports of of other areas, rural areas
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: like Yaraku or Tucacas or Maragai where which is a
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: smaller city outside Caracas, like like two hours or e
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: from Karagas, with major damages or important damages with the buildings.
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: So yeah, there's a lot of damage in Caracas, but
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: also in other cities and especially in the coast outside Caracas.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Okay, Tony Frangiemawad, thank you so much for talking to us,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: a journalist based in Caracas. We're glad that you are
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: safe and well, but of course our thoughts are with
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: those who are missing, those who have been impacted by
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: this earth two earthquakes, back to back, powerful in quick succession.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: We have got a live page as you can see
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: here that's updating on the latest. At least thirty two dead,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: around seven hundred injured, according to Interim President Delsi Rodriguez. However,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: that number is expected to go up.