Nine Portuguese and three Spanish nationals have died in the two earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24, which have killed at least 235 people in all, the two countries’ foreign ministries have said.
Spain’s foreign ministry said 99 of its citizens were unaccounted for and a further four had been found alive but trapped under collapsed buildings, with rescue teams trying to reach them. Portugal’s foreign ministry put the number of its own citizens missing or otherwise unaccounted for at 56.
Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares said the embassy and consulate in Caracas remained focused on locating and supporting Spaniards in the country. The Spanish community there numbered 147,000 people, according to Spanish Government figures that did not specify how many held dual nationality, a common circumstance.
Albares said Spain would seek to repatriate a group of stranded Spanish tourists aboard a military aircraft that had flown rescue specialists and aid workers to Caracas. The Spanish defence ministry said the plane had arrived carrying 59 army rescuers, two engineers and eight teams with sniffer dogs.
The Spanish development agency had released an initial €1 million ($1.1 million) through the Red Cross to meet the most urgent needs, the minister added.
In Lisbon, the secretary of state for Portuguese communities, Emídio Sousa, said the country would offer assistance based on need. He told Portuguese media that the airports remained shut though dispatching rescue teams was the immediate priority.
Portuguese President António José Seguro sent a message of solidarity to the Venezuelan people and extended it to Portuguese nationals living in the country.
The two tremors, a magnitude 7.2 foreshock followed 39 seconds later by a 7.5 mainshock, were among the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century, with their epicentres near the coastal town of Morón, west of Caracas.
Venezuela’s health minister, Carlos Alvarado, said at least 235 people had been killed and more than 4,300 injured. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared a state of emergency and named the coastal state of La Guaira the worst-hit area, while a tracking website listed more than 49,000 people as unaccounted for nationwide.
