LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — Rescue teams raced Thursday to the areas hardest hit by a pair of powerful earthquakes that rocked northern Venezuela, killing at least 164 people, injuring nearly 1,000 and trapping many beneath collapsed buildings.
Wednesday evening’s 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes were among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century and could be felt throughout the region. Damage was particularly bad in the coastal region of La Guaira, which is north of Caracas, the capital.
The country’s main airport was damaged and closed, while buildings were evacuated in places as far away as Brazil’s Amazon, about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from Caracas.
Television broadcasts Thursday showed rescue workers using power tools to work their way into piles of rubble where buildings once stood. Panicked residents of the capital were sent pouring into the streets, and after the quakes many people walked among the debris searching for the missing among collapsed buildings and toppled electric poles.
In La Guaira, Cristian Carreño stared stunned at his charred apartment building tilting precariously to one side.
