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Rescuers search rubble for survivors as Venezuela earthquakes kill at least 920
Over 50,000 people missing after twin quakes
Desperate Venezuelans and rescue teams raced to find more than 50,000 people still missing after the powerful twin earthquakes rocked areas near the capital of the south American country on Wednesday.
Government said on Friday that 920 people have so far lost their lives and 3,360 people have been injured after the quakes devastated parts of Caracas and surrounding areas.
The first 7.2-magnitude quake was followed seconds later by an even stronger 7.5-magnitude one, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), with both occurring close to the surface, making destruction more severe.
The ground shook once again Friday afternoon, a weaker 4.9 temblor that was felt in the capital Caracas and nearby Maracay.
The USGS estimated more than 10,000 deaths were possible, which would make the disaster one of Latin America's deadliest earthquakes of the last century.
Nearly 7 million people could be affected, the UN's migration agency said, as it supplied emergency shelter and other relief items.
The United Nations' aid chief Tom Fletcher also said Friday that more than 50,000 people are missing, warning that the death toll was likely to "rise significantly".
Earthquakes of similar magnitude claimed more than 200,000 lives in Haiti in January 2010 and 73,000 lives in Kashmir in October 2005.
Frustration mounted over the uneven pace of relief in some of the hardest-hit areas including La Guaira state, where residents and volunteers were still digging through rubble by hand amid shortages of heavy equipment and limited official presence.
A UN report estimated direct damage from the two quakes at about $6.7 billion.
Witnesses, traveled along highways cracked by the quakes and buildings reduced to broken concrete and twisted metal, said some ruins were spray-painted with building names to help rescuers identify locations.
Volunteers ferried supplies on motorcycles from Caracas and Valencia.
Despite initially thanking the volunteers, interim President Delcy Rodriguez and other officials later told people to stay away from La Guaira city because clogged roads were making rescue operations more difficult. They announced roads would be closed starting at 8 p.m. (midnight GMT) except to official and registered response teams.
Rodriguez, who took power after the United States captured her predecessor in January, has pledged a major relief deployment.
Foreign rescue teams began arriving late on Thursday into Friday in the country already weakened by years of economic sanctions imposed by the United States.
Iran's Foreign Ministry also voiced "Iran's readiness to provide any assistance required in relief and rescue operations".