State of Emergency Declared as Overnight Rescue Efforts Continue; Fears of Mounting Casualties

[Anchor]

Desperate projections suggest that the death toll from this powerful earthquake could reach as high as 100,000. As rescue operations continued throughout the night, it is expected that the scale of human casualties will grow significantly as search efforts progress.

Reporter Kim Minpyo has the story.

[Reporter]

At every site of a collapsed building, cries for help echo as people search for family members who could not escape in time.

[Resident in earthquake-stricken area (Caracas): Please help me. He (the buried victim) was in the same place as I was.]

The earthquake struck on the evening of a public holiday, the anniversary of Venezuela's independence, triggering desperate overnight rescue operations through the rubble of collapsed buildings in places like La Guaira and Caracas.

Neighboring Latin American countries have rushed to dispatch military troops, and U.S. President Trump also sent rescue teams, expressing his willingness to assist Venezuela.

Venezuelan Interim President Rodriguez has declared a national state of emergency.

[Rodriguez/Venezuelan Interim President: This is truly a heartbreaking tragedy. I extend my deepest condolences and solidarity, and I express my sympathies to the bereaved families.]

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) predicted that the death toll from this earthquake has a 40% probability of reaching between 10,000 and 100,000, and a 14% probability of exceeding 100,000.

Such massive damage is expected because the earthquakes, both with magnitudes exceeding 7, occurred in near succession, and their relatively shallow depths of 21.9 km and 10 km, respectively, caused a greater impact on the surface.

More than 20 aftershocks have also followed.

[Maria Alejandra/Earthquake victim: When I finally made it downstairs, the scene before my eyes was like a scene from a horror movie. I had to crawl through the gaps in the building debris to get out.]

Venezuela is prone to earthquakes as it sits on the boundary where the Caribbean Plate and the South American Plate meet. This earthquake has been recorded as the most powerful to hit the region in 126 years, since a 7.7-magnitude quake in 1900.

(Video Editing: Kim Byeong-jik)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.