Days after twin earthquakes struck Venezuela's coast and capital on June 24, rescuers are still occasionally finding people alive in the wreckage. They are also encountering something else: anger.
A narrowing window
The quakes, measured at magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, collapsed buildings across the coastal La Guaira region and shook Caracas, killing at least 1,430 people by official counts, Al Jazeera reported. The roughly 72-hour window in which survivors are most likely to be found alive has closed, though there have been exceptions — a 60-year-old woman pulled out after some 86 hours among them. Rescue teams reported recovering dozens of survivors over the weekend. Officials have not been able to verify widely circulated figures of tens of thousands missing, which should be treated with caution amid mass displacement.
"What have they done? Nothing"
For many residents, the trickle of rescues has sharpened a sense that ordinary Venezuelans, not the state, are doing the digging. "Everyone in La Guaira is searching and digging out people with their bare hands," La Guaira resident Mairet Pérez told Al Jazeera. "And the government? What have they done? Nothing."
That frustration has spilled into the open. Residents in some areas blocked equipment to stop state crews from leaving sites, and images circulated online appearing to show officials photographing damage before departing without helping — fueling outrage. Civil society groups — universities, businesses, volunteers — mobilized quickly, while critics noted that the military, deployed in large numbers, appeared focused more on controlling access than on leading the search. The government sent more than 14,000 security personnel to La Guaira, and access to the worst-hit zones has been tightly restricted, with residents required to register and journalists needing escorts.
A test for President Rodríguez
The disaster is an early and severe test for Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who took office after Nicolás Maduro's departure and is still consolidating her standing. She declared a state of emergency, offered condolences and appealed for international help — but the optics have been rough. During a community visit in Caracas, Rodríguez was met with boos, Al Jazeera reported.
Phil Gunson, a Venezuela analyst at the International Crisis Group, described the government's response as ranging from "totally non-existent to, at best, completely inadequate," tracing the failures to a decade of economic crisis, corruption and the cumulative weight of international sanctions that have hollowed out the country's emergency capacity.
The government's case
Venezuelan officials have pushed back on what they cast as politically motivated criticism, pointing to the international response they helped coordinate. More than 20 foreign rescue teams — from countries including Spain, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Qatar and the United States — have arrived, totaling some 2,200 workers. The United States has pledged $150 million in emergency aid and the European Union €5 million.
Beneath the rubble, hard questions
Even as the search winds down, urban planners and engineers are raising concerns about the construction quality of some collapsed buildings, including government-built housing, and whether they met seismic standards. Those debates offer little to families still camped in the streets, waiting for water, food and word of the missing. The rescue window has nearly shut. The reckoning over how Venezuela's government met the moment is just beginning.
