Venezuela reels from earthquakes as rescuers scramble to find survivors

Residents walk among the rubble of building damaged in earthquakes the previous day in Catia La Mar, Venezuela Pedro Mattey/AP hide caption toggle caption Pedro Mattey/AP BOGOTA, Colombia—It took less than a minute for two powerful earthquakes to strike Venezuela on Wednesday evening. Two days later, firefighters, soldiers and volunteers are still digging through collapsed buildings in Caracas and surrounding areas. The government says at least 235 people have been killed, with the toll expected to rise, and thousands have been injured. With emergency resources stretched thin, volunteers have been arriving at disaster sites carrying their own shovels, hammers and basic tools to assist rescue efforts. "In a place like this you just feel shocked. I don't even feel like taking photos," said volunteer Sebastian Arias, who described moving between neighborhoods where buildings had also collapsed. Arias said some sites were overcrowded with volunteers while others appeared to lack help and equipment. Entire neighborhoods across Caracas and northern coastal states have been left in ruins, with international assistance now arriving to support overwhelmed local responders. The last earthquake of comparable scale to hit Caracas occurred in 1967, when more than 200 people were killed in a magnitude 6.7 quake. Wednesday's quakes, measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, were felt across at least five northern states along the Caribbean coast, where strong earthquakes are relatively rare. …