Venezuela defends earthquake response

People have spent days trying to dig out loved ones ​with their hands, shovels and pickaxes, assisted by firefighters, civil protection corps, foreign rescue teams, student doctors and nurses, civilians who normally work as teachers and veterinarians, and occasionally ‌a soldier.

Backlash over the Venezuelan government’s response comes as acting President Delcy Rodriguez is trying to shore up her power following the ousting of her predecessor Nicolas Maduro in January.

Rodriguez rejected allegations that her government reacted too slowly to the destruction caused by the two earthquakes that hit the northern state of La Guaira on June 24.

Four thousand officials were deployed immediately, she said, rising to 14,000 the day after and then again to a current figure of 19,000. She also issued an ​emergency decree to activate emergency protocols, she told journalists.

Rodriguez said the death toll now stood at 2,595, and the government was not yet ending its search and rescue efforts.

She did not give ​a tally for the missing. An unofficial but widely used online list was down to some 38,500 on Thursday evening, after peaking at nearly 60,000 in ⁠the days immediately after the quakes.

A United Nations envoy said this week it was procuring 10,000 body bags for Venezuela and the US Geological Survey has estimated more than 10,000 deaths were possible.

The IMF and ​World Bank have offered aid and credit for recovery efforts, Rodriguez said. Venezuela was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund with the IMF, and money would go to audited contractors to reconstruct homes.

-Reuters