Hopes of finding more survivors in Venezuela are dwindling, but on Monday evening a 12-year-old was rescued from the rubble in the state of La Guaira, reports Ansa.
"After hours of work, we managed to get Carlos, a 12-year-old boy, out of the rubble alive. He was trapped under debris," an Ecuadorian search and rescue team wrote in a statement.
1,943 people have died and 10,571 have been injured in the historically powerful earthquakes. On Tuesday evening, the country's authorities also said that more than 6,000 people had been rescued or brought to safety. Tens of thousands had previously been reported missing.
Widespread food shortages
The UN refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday that "food shortages are widespread" and that aid is not arriving.
An AFP journalist on site in La Guaira tells the news agency how hundreds of unidentified bodies lie wrapped in body bags in a warehouse in the port.
According to the UN coordinator in the country, Gianluca Rampolla, the UN will provide 10,000 body bags.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday that diseases could break out in the devastated country.
Healthcare is under extreme pressure, with facilities working beyond their capacity, said WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier during a press conference.
58,000 houses damaged
Researchers Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek at Oregon State University have analyzed high-resolution satellite images from NASA taken the day after the earthquakes. They estimate that approximately 58,870 buildings were damaged or destroyed.
"This is a preliminary, rapid assessment. It reflects an abrupt surface change consistent with the damage," the researchers write.
They add that the figure is only an indication and has not been verified on the ground.
On Monday, National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez stated that 855 buildings were damaged, including 189 “total collapses.”
