CARACAS, Venezuela — You can hear backhoes digging through concrete and twisted metal, as rescue workers call out into the wreckage.
"We are the rescue team. If you are alive please make any noise."
A middle-aged man in a blue shirt looks on in desperation. He still has hope someone he knows on the sixth floor will be alive.
Across the street from another shattered building, Junior Laya and Jesus Gallardo sit on the shade, covered in dust.
"I have family members missing … my brother and some cousins," Gallardo says. "We don't know anything about them. We've been looking for them for four days."
It is now four days since powerful twin earthquakes left parts of Venezuela in ruins.
On Saturday, the government said the death toll had reached 1,430, with nearly 3,500 injured. Those figures are expected to rise. Authorities say thousands remain missing, as the critical window to find survivors continues to narrow.
Cargo planes carrying emergency aid for earthquake victims are now beginning to land in Venezuela, after the main airport in the capital Caracas partially reopened to relief flights.
On the ground in La Guaira, a coastal state just north of Caracas, one of the areas closest to the earthquake's epicenter, it's utter devastation.
Buildings are pancaked, their floors stacked like decks of cards.
Dozens of people are digging through the rubble with whatever they can find—mostly small shovels and their bare hands. They are told someone is still inside, though it is not clear whether that person is alive or dead, or even who they are. Only their feet are visible.
Helicopters buzz in the sky.
People wait next to damaged structures, hoping to hear news of anyone who might get pulled from the rubble.
Andrea Peña is a 34-year-old resident of La Guaira, whose home was destroyed.
She's under a tent, outside the debris of her 7-floor building, guarding shovels and hand saws to give to rescue workers when they shout for them.
"My dad and my nephew are trapped there, she says. The day the earthquake hit was a holiday in Venezuela, so she was out in the street celebrating. That's how she survived.
"My nephew was sleeping and my dad was watching the World Cup," she says.
Window closing to find survivors
These are the kinds of scenes playing out across La Guaira state, with people milling around in the streets after being left homeless, uncertain of what to do next.
Nearly every building here shows damage. In some places, there are deep cracks running through structures. In others, buildings lean like sinking ships.
High-rises remain standing but have lost entire facades, exposing interiors where life appears frozen in place — childhood bedrooms with Mickey Mouse sheets still on the bed, teddy bears still in place.
The first 72 hours are crucial, when the chances of finding survivors are highest. That window is now closing.
One of the immediate concerns is sanitation. The weather is humid and in some areas, there is already a strong smell of decay, raising fears of a growing public health crisis. Areas are being cordoned off to control access, while shelters are being opened for those who have lost their homes.
Venezuela has been in crisis for more than a decade. The economy has collapsed, institutions and the health care system have weakened, and millions have left the country in the past decade.
Now this disaster adds another layer to that strain, raising questions about whether the state has the capacity to respond to a catastrophe of this scale.
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