Il Nuovo Postiglione - Venezuela earthquakes toll doubles amid desperate rescue efforts

Rescuers used heavy machinery but also just bare hands in a race to pluck out people caught under rubble in the earthquake zone west of the capital Caracas.

At one of the flattened buildings, AFP saw workers using sledgehammers to break the debris and calling for "absolute silence" to detect cries from survivors.

However, the abrupt increase in the official toll was only expected to keep rising.

"Regrettably, we now have 589 people who died," Rodriguez told a televised meeting with military and civilian officials. The previous official toll had been 235, while Health Minister Carlos Alvarado said late Thursday that another 4,300 people were listed as injured.

Help has begun to arrive, with Salvadoran, Swiss and Mexican rescue teams already on the ground, as well as a senior US military official landing in Caracas to oversee Washington's relief efforts.

Nations around the world have pledged to send rescuers, money and aid, with the United States saying it was deploying two warships, transport planes and helicopters and mobilizing $150 million in aid.

In the worst-hit state of La Guaira, north of Caracas, Amparo del Giudice dug with her bare hands at a huge mound of concrete in search of her son.

"It is a lot of rock, and with bare hands it is impossible," she said, exasperated and flailing at the rubble.

Elsewhere, a young girl died after crying out for help for hours as onlookers listened helplessly, local residents told AFP.

"We need people... military personnel, to come and help so we can get her out," said resident Dani Rizo, 48.

Earthquakes of similar magnitude claimed more than 200,000 lives in Haiti in January 2010 and 73,000 lives in Kashmir in October 2005.

- Few resources, looting -

The dead include foreigners, with nine Portuguese nationals, three Spaniards, two Brazilians, two Chinese nationals and one Italian-Venezuelan so far among those killed.

Fifty-six Portuguese citizens and 99 Spaniards were missing or otherwise unaccounted for, according to their respective governments.

Aerial photographs of La Guaira posted on social media showed one crumpled residential complex after another.

A rescue worker, speaking off the record, told AFP conditions were precarious, with a shortage of trained personnel and significant technical limitations.

AFP reporters witnessed residents looting a local supermarket in the city.

Venezuela's director of the International Rescue Committee, Nicole Kast, described the situation as catastrophic.

- Airport closed -

Offers of support poured in from around the world, with Switzerland, Spain, France, Portugal and Mexico among those sending specialists and rescue teams.

China, India, Brazil and war-battered Iran all offered help, while Pope Leo XIV has sent an initial 100,000 euros (around $114,050) in aid.

The United States is especially closely involved in oil-rich Venezuela after having ousted and arrested president Nicolas Maduro in January.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was "deeply saddened" by the disaster as the global body vowed to assist Venezuela.

Threatening to complicate relief efforts, the capital's main international airport is in La Guaira and has been closed after suffering serious damage.

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Maria Corina Machado called for the release of "all political prisoners, both civilians and military personnel," saying they should reunite with loved ones as the country is mourning.

Venezuela's northern coast sits on a boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates, but has not experienced a significant quake since 1997, when 73 people died. Another quake in 1967 killed 236 people.

This week's quake was felt in neighboring Colombia, where residents in Bogota evacuated buildings as a precaution.

Tremors were also reported in several cities in northern Brazil, according to the country's seismic monitoring network.

F.Ciambrone--INP