BBC:
More than 900 people have been killed and 3,360 others injured in the Venezuela earthquakes, according to the government, as rescuers keep searching for survivors and families wait desperately for news.
The injured are being treated in makeshift medical facilities after dozens of buildings in the country’s north were destroyed by the two quakes, including in the capital Caracas.
A senior government official said hundreds of international rescue workers have arrived in the country, with more on the way.
Two powerful earthquakes rocked Venezuela within seconds of each other on Wednesday. The second quake was one of the strongest tremors to hit the country in a century, at a magnitude of 7.5.
La Guaira, a region north of the capital, has been hit the hardest, officials said. The state is also home to one of the country’s two main ports and to Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía – the country’s main airport.
Many people are missing, and it is likely the death toll will rise as rescue efforts continue.
In La Guaira, Natacha Diaz told the BBC that her two daughters – aged 22 and 23 – were trapped under the rubble of a collapsed shopping centre, where they worked as manicurists.
“They were with their friends,” she said. “I just want them to be found. I have faith and hope that they are there.”
“I just want them back with me. They are all I have, please.”
National assembly head Jorge Rodriguez said in a state TV broadcast on Friday that the death toll had reached 920, with at least 172 people still believed to be trapped.
In La Guaira alone, at least 243 people have been rescued, the top lawmaker – who is the interim president’s brother – said.
Dozens of people have been rescued alive, which “brings us joy that they can embrace their families and loved ones”, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said at a televised briefing on Friday.
There have been 214 aftershocks since the initial quakes, she added.
