Aftershock creates panic in quake-hit Venezuela as crisis grows

A strong aftershock has rattled Venezuela, sending terrified residents racing on to the streets five days after the twin earthquakes that killed at least 1,719 people and left tens of thousands missing.

- Clavel Rangel Caracas Sam Jones

The aftershock yesterday - which the US Geological Survey measured at a magnitude of 4.6 - shook the capital, Caracas, and the devastated port city of La Guaira, where rescue crews were still searching for survivors in the rubble. Colombia’s geological survey put the magnitude at 5.1.

Although Jorge Rodriguez, the leader of the Venezuelan national assembly, said there were no immediate reports of new damage, the trembling earth and sounding of quake sirens brought fresh panic.

“I was asleep when the shaking woke me up,” said Amarelis Mendoza, a resident of El Hatillo, in Caracas. “It felt almost as strong as Wednesday’s earthquake, even though I hadn’t felt the other aftershocks.”

In the hardest-hit areas of the capital, residents poured onto the streets from the makeshift shelters where they had been staying. Many have been sleeping outside or in tents, fearing further collapses as the humanitarian crisis deepens.

Several lines of the Caracas metro shut again over concerns that more aftershocks could further damage the weakened infrastructure.