By Oluwakemi Kindness
Authorities in Venezuela have begun burying victims of the devastating twin earthquakes that struck the country last week, as the death toll climbed above 1,700 and hopes of finding more survivors continued to fade.
At Caracas’s only public cemetery, cremation facilities are operating at full capacity as grieving families struggle to lay their loved ones to rest.
Officials say between 60 and 70 burials are conducted daily from Friday through Sunday as the number of recovered bodies increased.
The challenge of identifying victims remains significant. Hundreds of unidentified bodies are being held at a temporary morgue near the Port of La Guaira, one of the areas hardest hit by the disaster.
Relatives have continued to gather outside the facility, awaiting confirmation of the fate of missing family members.
Many families have recounted heartbreaking stories of loss. Sergio Vergara, a 42-year-old earthquake survivor and relative of some of the victims who helped recover the bodies of his nephew and other relatives from a collapsed building in La Guaira, described the experience as traumatic.
“It was a horrible experience, pulling him out, his children,” he said after attending the burial.
Others are still waiting for answers. Wilker Molalla said he believes several members of his family, including his sister and her children, are among the unidentified victims awaiting identification.
“There were 11 people in my household; only two of us survived because we were at work,” he said.
The scale of the tragedy has overwhelmed local burial services, prompting international assistance. The United Nations announced plans to provide 10,000 body bags to support recovery operations, although officials hope the final death toll will be lower than feared.
As search teams continue to comb through the rubble in affected communities, thousands of Venezuelans are now focused on mourning their loved ones and giving the dead a dignified burial amid one of the country’s worst natural disasters in recent history.
