2 minutes agoA view from the moments of devastating earthquakes in Venezuela(VIDEO)
Periskopi(3 hours ago)
(3 hours ago)Venezuela's temporary president, Delcy Rodríguez, declared a state of emergency after two powerful earthquakes struck the Thracian capital by a few seconds. Officials said the first quake was 7.2 on the Richter scale, while the second was 7.5.
Rescue teams were searching the ruins of several residence buildings to survive, while the main international airport was closed due to serious damage to infrastructure.
The Witnesses describe panic and fear. People fled to the streets as buildings trembled and exploded. Outside of a mall, there was shock and chaos.
The skulls were destroyed, the wall split and the objects fell from the ceiling. It was terrifying”, the bank's 54-year-old employee, Odalis Escalona, told AFP.
Zenia Gonzalez, 52, said she and others should wait for the quakes to cool off before they left. “were shaking too much. It lasted a lot”, she said as she comforted a crying girl.
Maria Romero, a resident of La Castellana neighbourhood, also left her apartment. The “everything shook violently and had a deep thunder”, the engineer said.
President Rodríguez expressed her condolences to the victims' families, but still failed to deliver an exact number of victims.
The U.S. Geological study (USGS) warned that a large number of victims and large material damage were expected, and that this was a large disaster.
The situation was further complicated by the fact that the quake struck the country during a national holiday, when most citizens were at home with their families.
