At least 1,579 people are still missing after the earthquakes on June 24 in Venezuela, which left 6,125 dead, confirmed the governor of the state of La Guaira, José Alejandro Terán.
“From the information provided to us directly by relatives, it tells us that there are 1,579 missing people,” Terán said in an interview with the Colombian station Caracol Radio.
The governor pointed out that some of the people reported as deceased may be on the list of missing people because "they have not yet been certified by our forensic agencies of the Senamecf (National Service of Medicine and Forensic Sciences) to legally be able to give them the status of deceased."
This figure is known one day after the authorities published their most recent report on the earthquakes, in which the death toll reached 6,125, after adding another 579 deaths compared to the previous balance.
The new count has a different design from the previous ones and excludes figures such as injuries, victims and collapsed buildings and includes others such as homes delivered, which are 287.
The "weekly information bulletin" corresponding to the "reconstruction stage" also indicates that 43,679 homes have been evaluated and that - out of a total of 41,624 - there are 9,866 "restricted" and 6,433 at "high risk", according to the president of Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez.
The day before, the Venezuelan NGO Provea demanded that the Government update the number of deaths and those missing, the latter frozen since June 25, when the authorities reported 157 unaccounted for people.
Citizen initiatives such as 'Disappeared Venezuela Earthquake' have reported more than 29,000 people missing and, according to Provea, there is "no public record to support it."
Governor Terán highlighted today that the reality of what happened “without a doubt surpassed the vision of any government to prepare for a natural disaster.”
With information from EFE.
