Survivors tell of ‘brutal and fast’ Venezuela quake as hunt for survivors goes on

Volunteers search for possible victims in a collapsed building following twin earthquakes in La Guaira. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Worst incident of its kind in country for more than 125 years leaves many searching for multiple family members – and pleading for international help Scenes of destruction after deadly earthquakes in Venezuela – visual guide By Camille Rodríguez Montilla in La Guaira, Clavel Rangel in Caracas, Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro and Jane Clinton Nearly all of Ligia Level’s family lived in a trio of apartment blocks along Hotel Avenue, a seafront sweep of palm-specked resorts and high-rise condos along Venezuela’s Caribbean coast. When a powerful “doublet” of earthquakes jolted the region on Wednesday afternoon, those buildings and the lives within them came crashing down. Level, 67, leapt from her first floor window, breaking her foot as she scrambled to safety. Her relatives appear to have had less luck. On Thursday, she sat outside one of the three buildings, Residencias Villamar, wondering if there was any chance her niece and nephew had made it out alive, perhaps by jumping from their fifth floor apartment on to a mattress outside. Level believed her mother and sister, who had lived next door in a condominium called Residencias Anna Mar, were almost certainly dead. “We’ve lost them,” she wept as she waited by the wreckage of the buildings for news – and for government help to arrive. “Please, we absolutely need international help here. Anything and anyone we can get,” she implored, as volunteers scoured the rubble for survivors in the absence of civil protection teams. “We were not prepared for something like this – we’re not used to this.” View image in fullscreen Satellite imagery shows La Guaira before and after the earthquakes. Photograph: Vantor/Reuters Hotel Avenue is in La Guaira, a rundown port city surrounding Venezuela’s main international airport that has been shattered by the devastating earthquake. In a televised address, Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, declared La Guaira the area worst affected by what she called an “unprecedented seismic phenomenon” and lamented the “utter tragedy” that had befallen the region’s residents. “We hope to save as many lives as possible,” Rodríguez vowed while touring “ground zero” on Thursday, promising that international rescue teams were starting to arrive. Venezuela map The acting president’s politician brother, Jorge Rodríguez, said 250 buildings had been destroyed, most of them in La Guaira. As the Rodríguez siblings spoke, social media feeds filled with the names and faces of those who have not been seen since the disaster reduced large chunks of La Guaira – and nearby towns such as Catia La Mar and Caraballeda – to a tangle of metal, concrete and dust. 1:05 Aerial footage shows scale of destruction after deadly earthquakes in Venezuela – video One missing man was named as Carlos Ravelo, an airline pilot who was also last seen in Residencias Villamar. “A