A man and his teenage son were found alive under the rubble in Venezuela on Sunday, nearly four days after two earthquakes flattened their town. French and American rescue teams pulled them out in Caraballeda, about 40km north of Caracas, where the back-to-back quakes destroyed nearly 200 buildings.

That's the part worth pausing on: the standard 72-hour window for finding people alive had already closed. Aid agencies treat the first 48 to 72 hours as the crucial stretch, though that can be extended if trapped victims have access to food and water. [1] Interim president Delcy Rodríguez said rescue efforts would not be suspended. "We always hold on to hope," she said.

Rescue worker surveys the rubble in an area affected by the earthquake in Catia La Mar, Venezuela
Rescue worker surveys the rubble in an area affected by the earthquake in Catia La Mar, Venezuela

The scale is genuinely enormous. Two quakes, magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, struck within about a minute of each other on Wednesday evening, so many people never had time to leave their buildings, and the shallow depth pushed the force straight to the surface. [1] As of Sunday, officials reported around 1,450 dead and 3,150 injured, with the toll expected to rise.

Now the part the viral posts get slightly wrong. You'll see "tens of thousands missing" everywhere, and online databases do list roughly 51,000 people unaccounted for. But the Associated Press cautions that the figure likely includes people who simply can't reach loved ones because cell signal is down, and that some reports are probably duplicates. [1] The missing are real; the headline number is soft.

The story that turned the disaster into a symbol came earlier in the week. Dayana Patino was doing the washing up in her eighth-floor apartment when the quakes hit, and she fell into a pit clutching her 18-day-old son, Juan David. She told the BBC she kept touching his nose for proof he was still breathing. "As long as he was alive, I was going to be alive," she said. [2] A separate U.S. team filmed pulling another mother and baby from a different collapse; both had only minor injuries.

The rescues have made the response itself a flashpoint. Residents in hard-hit La Guaira say state teams have been scarce and have dug for relatives by hand, and looting has hit the port city. Twenty-four nations have sent supplies, rescue dogs and more than 2,700 search-and-rescue personnel.

The clock, though, is the clock. "Miracles are still happening in Venezuela," one widely shared post insisted after the father-and-son rescue, racking up tens of thousands of likes. [3] A Salvadoran rescue worker put it more plainly: "At this point, they are probably dead bodies."

Sources

Primary source: Venezuela earthquake: father and son found alive in rubble after four days as death toll nears 1,500

  1. Videos show U.S. rescue team pull mother, 9-month-old baby from rubble in Venezuela: — reporting
  2. Venezuela earthquake: Mum rescued from rubble with newborn baby tells BBC how he helped her survive — reporting
  3. Tweet by @MarioNawfal — @MarioNawfal · community
  4. In Venezuela, silence has become a rescue tool — reporting
  5. Venezuela rescuers race against the clock to find more survivors — reporting
  6. Tweet by @annamlulis — @annamlulis · community
  7. Tweet by @bolivardrag — @bolivardrag · community