Venezuela's Quake Toll Climbs With Tens of Thousands Still Missing

More than 68,000 people remain missing in Venezuela after twin earthquakes, the confirmed death toll has reached about 1,430 with nearly 3,500 injured, and the United Nations Development Programme has put the cost of direct physical damage at $6.7 billion, Euronews reported. Venezuelan officials said the toll continued to climb as the 72-hour window in which trapped survivors are most likely to be found drew to a close. The scale of the disaster has overwhelmed a country whose institutions were already strained.

The relief effort has become entangled in politics at home and abroad. The Guardian reported that the quakes are a test of the Trump administration's new approach to the Western Hemisphere, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio working to provide disaster response to a country whose president Washington helped depose in January, after the United States dismantled much of its main aid agency. Inside Venezuela, the New York Times reported that critics accuse interim president Delcy Rodríguez of trying to exploit the tragedy for political advantage, while her supporters make the same accusation against the opposition.

Venezuela holds some of the world's largest oil reserves, and its output has been a focus of renewed Western interest. A disaster on this scale complicates any near-term revival of production and adds a humanitarian dimension to an already politicized energy question.