The earthquake in Venezuela is leaving grief and despair as the race for survivors continues

La Guaira, Venezuela – In the cities of northern Venezuela, neighbors helped each other dig through the rubble to search for their loved ones Thursday after strong reverse earthquakes which officials say killed more than 230 people and left thousands injured the night before.

The death toll rose to 235 last Thursday, with at least 4,300 injured, Venezuela’s Health Minister Carlos Alvarado told reporters. The death toll is expected to rise as thousands are reported missing and intensive rescue efforts continue.

The 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday evening were among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and were felt throughout the region.

The injured were taken out covered in dust and blood, among them there are children and animals. Venezuelan state TV showed dramatic images of rescuers, including a woman trapped under a concrete strike who was pulled out by foot before rescuers pulled her out alive. But few government search parties were initially seen outside Caracas.

The coastal region of La Guaira, north of the capital Caracas, suffered the most damage and many people died. The country’s main airport was closed due to damage, complicating relief efforts.

Many were shocked on Thursday morning as they saw buildings reduced to skeletons, furniture hanging from windows and helicopters circling overhead. Buildings were flattened and roads opened up.

Families posted missing person flyers with pictures of loved ones while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched. Venezuelans abroad have struggled to communicate with relatives due to phone outages in the country.

In downtown Caracas, hundreds spend the night crammed into parks, parking lots and other open spaces.

Dayana Delgado, a mother of three children, asked where the heavy equipment promised by government officials was and she said that the residents are the ones digging up the collapsed buildings.

“I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said of her missing 8-year-old son.

One mother cried until she fainted from grief when the bodies of her 3- and 10-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and taken away. Others called out the names of the missing. Others stood in shock.

Venezuelan authorities said they were diverting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which is no stranger to natural disasters: The 1999 mudslide killed thousands of people and is considered one of the country’s worst natural disasters.

In La Guaira, Cristian Carreño stared at his burnt house in one direction.

“I lost everything,” he said. “There are still people inside, I think, who couldn’t get out. It’s incredibly painful.”

Retired teacher Juan Alberto Mendaño climbed through the rubble in La Guaira and passed a body when he saw a woman trapped and showing her hand for help.

“May God rescue him soon,” said Mendaño. “When we heard the cries, there was nothing we could do.”

Media reports shared notable moments of hope amid the carnage, including a young man being dragged out of the San Bernardino region of Caracas to cheers from onlookers as his mother cried, “Leandro, I love you.”

Venezuelan public radio aired a video of a girl covered in dust and wrapped in a black shirt as she was pulled from the rubble with the help of rescuers. Caracas city rescue team chief José Luis Núñez said he was found in a 10-story building in La Guaira that collapsed and flattened “like a pancake.”

“We want to highlight the strength of this girl, her determination and her will to live,” said Núñez.

CBS News’ Cristian Benavides spoke Thursday with Gabriella Suarez, a 24-year-old online gamer who was live streaming from her home in Caracas when the quake struck Wednesday evening. His camera captured his shock as the entire room began to shake.

“It started getting harder,” he recalled. “I feel like, I feel the earth moving.”

He said his communities — online and in person — were rallying to support relief efforts in Venezuela, where millions of people were already facing economic instability and lacked consistent access to services like power and clean water before the earthquake.

“We’ve gone through everything I can think of, and we’re still trying to get through it,” he said. “Obviously, what we’re hearing is that we need help, and this is a call for help.”

Natural disaster is the latest challenge of Acting President Delcy Rodríguezthe former vice president who took office in January after being kidnapped once the removal from power of former President Nicolás Maduro is the United States. Venezuela has been experiencing economic and demographic instability for more than a decade denial of legitimacy of the political organization Rodríguez represents.

Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in his address to the nation on Wednesday. He said the government is creating a $200 million fund to rebuild damaged hospitals and homes.

He urged businessmen on Thursday to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue.

“We hope to rescue many people alive,” said Rodríguez.

While Venezuela sits along many fault lines, its location across the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes less common than in other parts of Latin America.

The US Geological Survey said both earthquakes were centered near Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 105 miles west of Caracas.

One of the two earthquakes, combined with shallow earthquakes, increased the destruction, said Marcos Ferreira, a geologist and researcher with the Geological Survey of Brazil.

“It’s like I’m yelling and someone is yelling, too. That increases the vibration and adds to the potential danger,” Ferreira said.

Shortly after United Nations officials in Venezuela asked the government to lift restrictions on communications so that people could receive life-saving information, Venezuelans in the country were able to reach X. The area had been blocked by Maduro since August 2024 in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information between those who rejected his claim to victory in the July presidential election.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke to Rodríguez following the earthquake, said the US was sending aid immediately.

“We have a government-wide response. It will be big; it will be fast; and it will work,” Rubio said, while admitting the closure of Venezuela’s main airport near Caracas created transportation challenges. He said American aid efforts will be led by the Pentagon, as the Defense Department has the ability to reach cut-off areas.

Venezuelan public television showed the arrival of rescuers and aid from Chile at a military base in Aragua state early Friday, while a team of 80 experts and eight search dogs from Switzerland also arrived with aid supplies. Turkey announced two flights would leave Istanbul on Friday with military, medical and rescue personnel and search dogs. The leaders of Qatar, Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Canada also vowed to send aid.

Rescue teams from El Salvador and the Dominican Republic arrived in Venezuela on Thursday, along with rescuers and supplies from Mexico.

“No country is ready to give the necessary response. That’s what the neighboring countries are,” said Dominican Air Force Major Carlos Olivares.

Venezuelan citizens were also helping. In Ecuador, Félix Rodríguez said his store accepts donations from his fellow Venezuelans and Ecuadorians.

“My business is always ready for whatever Venezuela needs,” he said.

Gabby Graham said she often sends money from Spokane, Washington, to Venezuela using a peer-to-peer payment at a local business that provides cash for her family. But since there was an earthquake, they can’t find the business owner and they can’t share money for food, water, medicine and toiletries.

“I think it hasn’t been easy for them for years. Right now it’s worse because it’s about getting these things,” Graham said.