US Pledges Aid to Earthquake-Hit Venezuela, Deploys Department of War

The United States has pledged to provide aid after two earthquakes killed 164 people in Venezuela. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Department of War would be deployed to assist.

The strongest earthquakes in Venezuela since 1900 destroyed several buildings near the capital, where residents searched for missing relatives.

“The Department of War has to play a logistical role, a major logistical role here because they have the ability to land in places that are difficult right now,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to Bahrain. “So we have a whole-of-government response. It will be large, it will be fast, and it will be effective.”

Rubio said he was not considering the impact on US efforts to stabilise Venezuela, after American forces captured former President Nicolas Maduro in January. “Right now we are worried that there are people trapped in the rubble. We want to help them get out,” he said. “Some of those people have relatives living in the United States, but regardless, the United States always responds to humanitarian crises, especially in our own hemisphere.”

The death toll from the twin earthquakes in Venezuela has risen to 164. The largest earthquakes in Venezuela in more than a century also destroyed several buildings near Caracas, the Venezuelan capital. Amid the darkness of night, rescue teams and local residents continued to search for survivors and evacuate people from under the rubble of buildings. France, Spain, and the United States have offered to immediately send rescue teams after the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes struck an area west of Caracas on Wednesday.