Venezuela: Almost 4,500 killed in quake, many more missing
As the official death toll from the devastating earthquakes which struck northern Venezuela last month continues to rise, authorities are planning temporary housing to shelter
As the official death toll from the devastating earthquakes which struck northern Venezuela last month continues to rise, authorities are planning temporary housing to shelter thousands of people left homeless. Authorities in Venezuela are planning to set up temporary accommodation for families who lost their homes in last month's devastating earthquakes, from which the death toll has now climbed to at least 4,490. The announcement was made on Saturday by Venezuelan Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, the brother of acting President Delcy Rodriguez. He did not say how many people were still unaccounted for, but the United Nations has estimated that 50,000 people are still missing.
Rodriguez rejected suggestions that the government would suspend the search for bodies in a bid to allay families' fears that the rubble would be cleared indiscriminately. Venezuela quakes death toll rises to almost 4,000 To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Venezuela: how powerful were the earthquakes? The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes which hit the capital, Caracas, and the coastal state of La Guaira, on June 24 razed entire high-rise apartment blocks to the ground. Over 850 buildings lie in ruins or have been severely damaged and more than 19,000 people have been forced to live in makeshift camps set up in sports stadiums, schools or on squares or sidewalks.
But the schools in particular will have to be vacated once the new academic year begins in September, with initial government estimates indicating that about 25,000 homes will be needed to house people. Rodriguez said the government has allocated more than 40 plots of land in La Guaira state, amounting to approximately 584,000 square meters, for the construction of new homes. Anger in Venezuela over earthquake response To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Venezuela: government requesting financial resources He warned, however, that costs will spiral, given the need for reconstruction, as well as for rental assistance and property purchase loans.
To this end, interim President Delcy Rodriguez this week officially requested that the Bank of England release Venezuela's gold reserves. "This gold belongs to our people and should be used to serve them," she said, while also asking the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release assets held for emergency use. Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez
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