US sends emergency aid to Venezuela as earthquake death toll rises
In a live broadcast from the ruined landscapes of Caracas, Fox News correspondent Nate Foy provides on-the-ground coverage of the ongoing rescue efforts following catastrophic earthquakes in Venezuela. Struck by tremors measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, the nation is reeling as the fatality count surpasses 1,400, with more than 68,900 individuals still missing. Search-and-rescue teams, in conjunction with the U.S. military, are racing against time to extract survivors from the rubble of a collapsed 17-story building before the crucial 72-hour survival period expires.
Amidst this chaos, search-and-rescue teams have managed to pull 33 survivors from the crumbled structures along Venezuela’s northern shore over the weekend. However, officials and aid workers cautioned on Sunday that with nearly 50,000 individuals still unaccounted for, time is quickly slipping away.
According to The Associated Press, by late Saturday, the death toll had reached 1,430. Additionally, more than 3,000 people have sustained injuries, and a similar number find refuge in temporary shelters, according to Venezuelan officials.
The greatest severity has beset La Guaira state along the coast, where staggering destruction has occurred. Apartment complexes, hotels, and public housing structures crumbled after back-to-back powerful earthquakes struck on Wednesday. Countless aftershocks continue to shake the already weakened areas, complicating rescue missions and forcing survivors to endure extreme heat outdoors.
Among those rescued are a baby miraculously retrieved by U.S. rescuers, an 11-year-old boy located by a Colombian team using a scanner to find him buried roughly 10 feet underground, and another 11-year-old unearthed by Mexican teams in Caraballeda.
U.S. firefighters from Fairfax County, Virginia, sent by the State Department work to reach earthquake survivors trapped in the rubble in La Guaira, Venezuela on Sunday, June 28, 2026. (Matias Delacroix)
“In these hours each life is hope for Venezuela,” Acting President Delcy Rodríguez wrote on X after one of the rescues.
Swiss rescue-team leader Sebastian Eugster told Reuters that the odds of finding survivors drop sharply after roughly 72 hours under rubble. That mark passed Saturday evening.
“There exists a window of roughly three days, 72 hours, where the probability afterwards decreases that you can save people alive,” Eugster said.
The missing toll remains highly uncertain. The government has spoken of hundreds missing or trapped, while some estimated just under 50,000 people as missing Sunday, down from 55,000 a day earlier. The AP reported that families had listed 68,900 people missing Saturday, underscoring the chaos in accounting for the dead, the displaced and those cut off by communications failures.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PLEDGES $150M IN AID, DEPLOYS NAVY WARSHIPS AFTER DEADLY VENEZUELA EARTHQUAKES
With the desperation of the survival window closing as the days and hours wear on, Starlink has provided communication services for the humanitarian crisis.
“Starlink Mobile is providing free connectivity to @MovistarVe customers in the La Guaira region, and we are working to provide free service for @DigitelAyuda and @movilnet_ve customers as quickly as possible,” Starlink posted Sunday to X.
“Families, communities and businesses with compatible LTE smartphones can now stay connected through SMS even if terrestrial networks are not available and customer phones will automatically connect to Starlink Mobile. Coverage will work best with a clear view of the sky.”
Pope Leo on Sunday expressed solidarity with survivors and victims’ families holding out hope.
“I wish to express my closeness to the Venezuelan sisters and brothers affected by the recent earthquakes that caused numerous victims and injuries,” the pontiff said in Spanish before worshippers gathered for Sunday’s Angelus prayer in Rome.