Venezuelans looking for family members complain about the lack of heavy machinery

Venezuelans with family members still missing in the strong earthquakes that shook the country on Wednesday night (24) are asking for heavy machinery to help with ongoing search and rescue operations.

In the ruins of a building in the town of Caraballeda, a woman named Ana Ancheta, whose relative has not been found, expressed her frustrations with the lack of machines for teams to sort the huge amounts of debris.

"We need machines," she told Reuters. "All this debris is heavy; they can't move it by themselves. They just can't."

Industrial engineer Alejandro Serrano, 33, said there was a "strong smell of death" at the site of the collapsed building. He added that the machine operators who had promised to come and help clear the rubble had not yet shown up.

International aid
More than 1,600 rescuers from around the world arrived in Venezuela this Saturday to support search and rescue operations.

They arrived on 17 flights, said Oliver Blanco, Venezuela's deputy minister for Europe and North America.

"An additional 25 flights are expected to arrive in the next 24 hours. We appreciate the support and solidarity of the international community in these uncertain times for Venezuelans," Blanco added in a post on the social network X.

Teams from countries such as Mexico, the United States, El Salvador, Switzerland, Colombia, Spain, Ecuador, Chile, the Dominican Republic and Panama joined the search.

Understand how the strength of earthquakes is measured

Source: CNN