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Venezuelans take search for the missing into their own hands as earthquake death toll climbs 58%
By REGINA GARCIA CANO0% JUAN PABLO ARRAEZ0% MEGAN JANETSKY0%
6/26/2026, 4:29:31 AM
Topics: Earthquakes, Venezuela
Keywords: Venezuela, Venezuela Earthquakes, Earthquakes, Natural Disasters, Latin America, Central America, South America, Venezuela Caracas Guaira Earthquakes Dead Injured Missing, Building Collapses, Omar Reyes, Donald Trump, Politics, Marco Rubio, Venezuela Government, Jorge Rodriguez, Nicolas Maduro
BS Summary: This article contains 25 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Availability Heuristic, and Framing Effect, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 40% saturation with 225 hits. Analysis detected 1,315 faulty-reasoning hits from 563 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 55.1% and a BS Rank of 58% (8,680 of 20,517 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 57.70% of the article peer group.
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans took the search for missing loved ones into their own hands Friday in the aftermath of back-to-back earthquakes, citing the scarcity of government rescuers, as the human toll of the disaster climbed to at least 920 dead and more than 51,000 missing.
Citizens digging through the rubble of their homes said they have seen few state rescue teams in the areas hit hardest by the devastating 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes that struck late Wednesday.
Despite authorities projecting an image of a robust government response.
“Each person saved is a miracle,” said Jorge Rodríguez, the president of the country’s National Assembly.
“We are not going to hide absolutely anything about the magnitude of this tragedy.”
She was in the northern state of La Guaira, just north of the capital of Caracas, where some of the worst destruction unfolded.
Jimenez was wracked with anxiety as she waited to see if her siblings, nephews, nieces and friends would emerge from the debris alive.
“We’re making a call for help to the government and countries across the world,” she said, pleading for machines that would be capable of moving collapsed structures.
“There are still people alive in there.”
Government forces distributed food and water to survivors in La Guaira as acting President Delcy Rodríguez said her government was mounting a full response during these “critical hours for rescuing people alive.”
She welcomed the arrival of rescuers and humanitarian aid from all over the world.
She said La Guaira had been militarized and that more help was on the way, even as residents said it was just a fraction of the aid they needed.
The disaster poses a huge challenge for Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the capture and removal of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the United States.
Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents.
Meanwhile, a broad international aid effort accelerated, with dozens of rescue teams from around the globe arriving in Venezuela or due to arrive there soon.
The U.N. said 1,000 emergency responders in 25 search-and-rescue teams from across the globe were on their way.
“I’ve been left alone in this life,” said Omar Reyes, who walked through the rubble where two of his children were buried.
He said around 20 family members died in the disaster.
In the city of Maiquetía, people lined up outside convenience and grocery stores and pharmacies as the businesses served customers one by one behind closed doors.
At one point, a woman in a crowd desperate to keep a package of diapers threw herself to the ground to protect the package with her body.
Traffic and throngs of motorcyclists at times also disrupted search efforts.
Mexican soldiers and volunteers repeatedly had to ask for silence to try to hear signs of life under the ruble, but bikers — civilian and uniformed — often ignored the requests honking horns and revved their engines to the frustration of first responders.
Some reports may be duplicates created when multiple loved ones are searching for the same person.
The number of injured climbed to more than 3,300 as of midday Friday, and authorities said they had rescued 243 people.
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