Strong aftershock terrifies Venezuelans days after devastating twin quakes

Volunteers conduct search operations in a building damaged by an earthquake in La Guaira, Venezuela on Monday. Photograph: Ronald Pena R/EPA View image in fullscreen Volunteers conduct search operations in a building damaged by an earthquake in La Guaira, Venezuela on Monday. Photograph: Ronald Pena R/EPA Strong aftershock terrifies Venezuelans days after devastating twin quakes Caracas and port city of La Guaira affected by 4.6 magnitude shock as loss of life passes 1,450 people A strong aftershock has rattled northern Venezuela , sending terrified residents racing on to the streets five days after the twin earthquakes that killed at least 1,450 people, left tens of thousands missing and triggered a growing humanitarian emergency. The aftershock early on Monday – which the United States Geological Survey measured at a magnitude of 4.6 – shook the capital, Caracas, and the devastated port city of La Guaira, where rescue crews are still hoping to pull as many survivors as possible from the rubble. Colombia’s geological survey put the aftershock’s magnitude at 5.1. Mortuary in Caracas ‘overwhelmed’ as Venezuela struggles to respond after earthquakes Read more Although Jorge Rodríguez, the leader of the Venezuelan National Assembly, said there were no immediate reports of new damage, the trembling earth and sounding of quake sirens brought fresh panic to Caracas and La Guaira. “I was asleep when the shaking woke me up. It felt almost as strong as Wednesday’s earthquake, even though I hadn’t felt the other aftershocks,” said Amarelis Mendoza, a resident of El Hatillo in Caracas. Aerial photo of built-up area damaged by earthquake. In the hardest-hit areas of the capital – including Altamira and San Bernardino – residents poured on to the streets from the makeshift shelters where they had been staying. Many have been sleeping outside apartment buildings or in tents pitched along sidewalks, fearing further collapses. Several lines of the Caracas metro were shut down again over concerns that additional aftershocks could further damage already weakened infrastructure. map of north Venezuela In San Bernardino, search operations at the 22-unit Rita apartment building, which collapsed completely during last week’s earthquake, were suspended for about an hour and a half following Monday’s tremor. As the new week began, some businesses across the capital started to reopen. But the number of people seeking refuge in parks and public squares continues to grow as the humanitarian crisis deepens. Hundreds of displaced families from Caracas and beyond have been camping out in the Parque del Este, a 200-acre park in the east of the capital. “Life is worth more than anything else,” said 35-year-old Katiuska Asuaje, who fled her home in the La Cruz sector of Bello Campo in Caracas with four children. The aftermath of the earthquakes in Venezuela – in pictures Read more “We weren’t going to wait for the house to collapse on top of us because one of the concrete roof s