UN to provide 10,000 body bags to Venezuela after quakes

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations, fearing more deaths from twin earthquakes in Venezuela, said Monday it will provide 10,000 body bags to the country — though it hopes the eventual toll will not be that high.

Back-to-back quakes last week flattened entire neighborhoods in the coastal state of La Guaira, killing more than 1,700 people and leaving tens of thousands missing.

Gianluca Rampolla del Tindaro, UN coordinator for Venezuela, declined to speculate beyond official figures, but said “we are definitely looking at a number that is higher than the one already reported.”

“I can give you a proxy indicator. We are procuring, and this is something that has been agreed with the authorities here, 10,000 body bags,” Rampolla del Tindaro told a virtual news conference.

“That is somehow applying assumption, and it’s very sad, and we truly hope that actually the number is going to be smaller than that,” he said.

Rampolla del Tindaro also praised the international response, saying 27 countries have deployed more than 2,000 rescuers and personnel, with over 160 search dogs.

He said these teams managed to rescue seven people from the rubble on Sunday, the fourth day after the disaster struck Venezuela.