The death toll in the devastating twin earthquakes that hit Venezuela last month has surpassed 4,300, a senior lawmaker said on Saturday.
National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez, brother of interim leader Delcy Rodríguez, estimated the number of victims at 4,333, up from 4,118 on Friday.
On June 24, magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes shook Caracas and the coastal state of La Guaira, flattening entire blocks of high-rise apartments into layers of rubble.
Camps for families left homeless have sprung up in stadiums, squares and sidewalks. More than 19,000 people currently live in those camps, Rodríguez said.
Venezuelan and foreign volunteers provide medical care in tents set up in open areas and distribute food.
Rodríguez did not say how many people were still missing, but the United Nations has estimated that 50,000 people are still missing.
He rejected the idea that the government would suspend the search for bodies because families feared that the rubble would be removed indiscriminately.
Initial government estimates indicate that around 25,000 homes will be needed to house people.
Rodríguez said the government will begin providing some apartments to families in the coming days that were under construction before the earthquake.
But he added that significant resources will be needed to build more, provide rental assistance and offer loans for property purchases.
The government has allocated more than 40 plots of land in La Guaira, totaling around 584,000 square meters, for the construction of new homes, Rodríguez said.
He explained that the land is located on safe plains far from the coastal area, where hundreds of buildings were damaged and more than 180 completely collapsed.
Additionally, interim president Delcy Rodríguez this week asked Britain’s King Charles III to release Venezuela’s gold reserves, which are currently held in the Bank of England.
