Venezuela Quake Toll Passes 1,700 as Rescue Efforts Continue

33 Rescued Over Weekend as Venezuela Quake Toll NearsPasses 1,500700 as Rescue Efforts Continue

Is this response a global rescue success story or a damning failure of a broken state?

Published 3 days ago

Venezuela Quake Toll Passes 1,700 as Rescue Efforts Continue

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Above: Rescuers carry a person from the rubble of a collapsed building in Caraballeda, Venezuela on June 28. Image credit: Mauricio Valenzuela/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Venezuela's government has coordinated a large-scale international rescue effort, bringing together teams from more than a dozen countries as survivors continue to be pulled from the rubble days after the twin earthquakes. The steady arrival of foreign rescuers, equipment and emergency aid reflects growing international confidence in the government's response and its determination to accelerate recovery in the hardest-hit communities.

Independent France24.com Guardian

Venezuela's government has badly fumbled this disaster — locals in quake-hit areas are furious, clearing rubble with bare hands while waiting for a state that has spent 27 years hollowing out its own institutions. Information has trickled out irregularly, heavy machinery has been scarce and the official response has been opaque. A country this broken cannot rescue itself, and no number of announcements from acting President Delcy Rodriguez changes that reality.