By Vivian Sequera, Mayela Armas, Tibisay Romero and Deisy Buitrago
LA GUAIRA/CARACAS/MORON, June 25 (Reuters) - Hundreds of people in Venezuela were trapped under rubble and many more still unaccounted for on Thursday after two powerful earthquakes wreaked havoc in and around the capital Caracas, setting off powerful aftershocks and leaving thousands homeless.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit about 160 km (100 miles) west of Caracas on Wednesday evening, followed less than a minute later by a magnitude 7.5 tremor, the strongest in more than a century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The disaster struck a country already grappling with years of economic turmoil that had left much of its infrastructure fragile, complicating rescue efforts and posing a crucial test for the country's interim government, which welcomed promises of aid from across the international community.
Jorge Rodriguez, who heads Venezuela's national assembly and is the brother of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, said on Thursday afternoon that at least 188 people had been confirmed dead and 200 were trapped.
He said at least 1,520 people had been hospitalized and 250 buildings were damaged or destroyed, leaving nearly 3,000 families homeless.
'DISASTER ZONE'
The worst-affected area, La Guaira state, near Caracas, "has become a disaster zone," acting President Rodriguez said, adding that her government was working with businesses to deploy heavy machinery to accelerate rescue efforts. Electricity in the state was scarce on Thursday.
Caracas' main airport in La Guaira was closed on Thursday after suffering damage. Witnesses' footage during the earthquakes showed scenes of panic as ceilings came down.
In some areas, emergency workers scrambled over the debris of collapsed buildings through the evening and into Thursday. In others, residents decried a lack of help.
La Guaira resident Yamileth Jimenez said her 19-year-old son was trapped in the rubble of their seven-story apartment building.
“He’s under the slabs and there’s no machinery to get him out,” said Jimenez, distraught after her father had died just three days earlier.
Rescue workers were scarce in the state's eponymous capital, where volunteers were digging with their bare hands.
“We lost everything. We have no food or medicines ... We hope help arrives quickly,” said Pedro Perez, 64, the owner of an upholstery workshop. He said he lost his home and business and had been forced out onto the streets with his wife and children.
RESIDENTS RUSH OUTSIDE
Many Venezuelans were at home when the quakes struck during a public holiday. Residents fled shaking buildings and poured into the streets as structures collapsed across Caracas and nearby coastal areas.
"When we went downstairs, the scene was like a horror movie," said Caracas resident Maria Alejandra, who did not give her surname.
Houses collapsed near the quake's epicenter in Morón, a small seaside town in the state of Carabobo, where there was no water or electricity. Three children were among at least eight killed in the area, Mayor Emily Riera told Reuters.
Some 200 families who live in a damaged residential complex in Morón were removing what personal possessions they could reach, including mattresses, televisions and washing machines.
Some said they were going to stay with relatives. Others were waiting for promised government shelters.
Denis Sequera, 47, said her 5-year-old granddaughter helped lead her 79-year-old father to safety as the shaking began, while she helped her 70-year-old mother.
"She kept telling my dad, 'Grandpa, get out, put your hands over your head,' and she led him into the yard," Sequera said. "We couldn't go back inside. We slept outside and are now waiting for help."
WEBSITE SHOWS MORE THAN 41,000 PEOPLE UNACCOUNTED FOR
The U.S. Geological Survey, using predictive modeling, estimated the death toll would most likely run into the thousands, with a substantial probability of exceeding 10,000.
A website set up to track missing people and shared by leaders from the country's opposition listed more than 41,000 people as unaccounted for just after 3:30 p.m. (1930 GMT). Reuters could not verify the reports.
The 7.5-magnitude quake was Venezuela's strongest since 1900. The country lies on the boundary between the Caribbean and South American plates and has suffered devastating earthquakes, including one that killed an estimated 30,000 people in 1812.
"This earthquake was horrible, even worse than the one in 1967," said Maria Romero, an 80-year-old pensioner in southern Caracas, referring to a magnitude 6.3 quake that the USGS said killed 240 people.
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
Leaders from across the political spectrum expressed solidarity with Venezuela, a shift from the international polarization that has surrounded the country in recent years.
Rodriguez said international rescue teams were expected soon and thanked leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Expatriate groups representing Venezuela's diaspora, which numbers in the millions after years of mass migration, began organizing aid collections abroad as relatives worked to contact family members back home.
Rodriguez called for unity in Venezuela, where anti-government protests over annual inflation of more than 500% have become more frequent since Trump ordered the capture of President Nicolas Maduro in a violent raid in January.
Trump said the U.S. was "ready, willing and able to help" and that the U.S. would "be there for our new and great friends," while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said rescue teams were being deployed and the Pentagon would send assets to Caracas' badly damaged airport.
U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said the organization was coordinating the rapid deployment of international rescue teams, adding that "a massive collective effort" would be needed in a country where, even before the quake, 8 million people needed humanitarian aid.
The U.N.'s Venezuela human rights mission urged the government to lift restrictions on some social media, saying it was a "matter of life and death."
OIL INFRASTRUCTURE SPARED
At least eight hospitals had been affected, Jorge Rodriguez said. The Venezuelan Red Cross said its headquarters had been critically damaged but it sent rescue teams to the worst-affected areas. The French embassy was also badly hit.
Near the epicenter, workers were restarting the Morón Petrochemical Complex, Venezuela's second-largest in operation, a local firefighter chief said, after damage was assessed. The small El Palito refinery, meanwhile, remained partially out of service due to power outages.
Other oil infrastructure appeared to be unaffected.
Foreign oil companies operating in Venezuela, including Chevron , the main foreign partner of the country's state-run oil company PDVSA, as well as Italy's Eni and Spain's Repsol, said all personnel had been accounted for.
Chevron said the company remained operational while Eni and Repsol said the quake had not affected their operations.
Shell, which is evaluating developing gas fields in Venezuela, said all its employees were unhurt.
(Reporting by Vivian Sequera and Deisy Buitrago in Caracas, Mayela Armas in La Guaira, Tibisay Romero in Moron; Additional reporting by Reuters TV in Caracas, Keren Torres in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, Tathiana Ortiz in San Cristobal, Venezuela, Mariela Nava in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Marianna Parraga and Sheila Dang in Houston, Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez in Barcelona, Fabian Cambero in Santiago, Ana Isabel Martinez in Mexico City, Emma Farge in Geneva, Gram Slattery in Manama, John Irish in Paris, David Brunnstrom in New York; Writing by Kylie Madry, Julia Symmes Cobb, Philippa Fletcher, and Brendan O'Boyle; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon, Lincoln Feast, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Timothy Heritage and Deepa Babington)
