Donations from South Florida arrive in Venezuela as search for survivors continues

DORAL, Fla. — As the death toll from back-to-back earthquakes in Venezuela continued to climb Tuesday, relief supplies collected in South Florida were already arriving in the country as rescue crews searched for survivors beneath collapsed buildings.

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According to Reuters, Venezuelan authorities said more than 1,700 people have been killed and at least 5,000 others injured following the devastating earthquakes.

Global Empowerment Mission, which has been collecting donations at its warehouse in Doral, released new photos showing pallets of relief supplies arriving at a warehouse the organization secured in Caracas.

Global Empowerment Mission officials told Local 10 they are no longer in need of bottled water donations because they have received an ample supply. Instead, the organization is asking people to make monetary donations, which will allow relief teams to purchase and distribute the supplies most urgently needed on the ground.

Meanwhile, members of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s Florida Task Force 1 remained on the ground in Venezuela, working alongside international crews in one of the hardest-hit areas, Playa Grande in La Guaira state.

Search teams continued using specially trained canines to detect the scent of people trapped beneath the rubble.

Amid the widespread destruction, rescuers celebrated a rare moment of hope after emergency crews from Jordan pulled a 3-year-old child alive from beneath a collapsed building six days after the disaster.

That child was rushed for medical treatment as rescuers cheered.

Questions also continued to mount over the collapse of a hotel that was housing more than 100 recently deported people from the United States.

A repatriation flight carrying about 146 people arrived in Venezuela on June 24, just hours before the earthquakes struck. Officials said many of the deportees were taken to the hotel, which later collapsed, leaving families searching for answers about their loved ones.

“They are not giving us answers about where she is. If at a hospital or at the morgue,” said Luis Armando Dasilva, whose sister, Amanda Donizete, he said worked as a waitress in Georgia.

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Families say they have received conflicting information about how many people survived the collapse.

“Please act quickly. We want our relatives to be found, however they are,” Dasilva said.

The World Health Organization said Venezuela’s health care system remains under significant strain because of damaged hospitals and staffing shortages.

The U.S. Embassy in Caracas also released a photo of the USS Fort Lauderdale, which U.S. Southern Command said is berthed at the Port of La Guaira.

The ship is providing additional medical capabilities and serving as a communications hub to support relief operations.

As international rescue efforts continue, organizations in South Florida are working to get more food, water and other essential supplies into the hands of earthquake survivors in Venezuela.

Click here to view the drop-off locations across South Florida that are collecting goods and supplies for earthquake victims.

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