In the coastal town of La Guaira, rescuers fall silent, listening for sounds of survivors from under the rubble of a collapsed 12-storey building. After moments of anticipation, they hear nothing. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.

Miguel Oscar Nunez is searching for his only son, 34-year-old Angel, who lived in the building. He expresses anger at the authorities: "My son, like hundreds of others, is trapped under the rubble. But we need more support from authorities urgently to dig them out. It's possible that the earthquake has not killed him, but can you imagine if he is killed because of the negligence of the authorities?"

Kevin Montilla also lived in the building. He was at work when his wife Luzmary and 16-year-old daughter Jhoerliyzmar were at home. "The rescue operation started very late and it's been slow. Initially it was only people who live in the community who came in to help. The police just came to check, but they didn't help. The government's response has been frustrating and impotent," the 34-year-old says.

When we visited the site, rescue teams from Venezuela and Colombia were conducting operations. Two diggers and a crane lifting concrete slabs were present. But families waiting by the roadside said precious days had been wasted before this effort started.

Deilisbeth Herreira is at a hospital in La Guaira town, going through the list of injured and dead, looking for her daughters – Greydelys, 12, and Graybelys, 13. A single parent, she was away at work when the earthquake struck. "I have help from no one. No machines or rescuers have been sent to dig through the rubble. It's like you've been left on your own to find your loved ones," she says, tears rolling down her cheeks.

William Rodrigues is searching for his uncle: "The stench is horrible here. But I'm still trying because I'm looking for my uncle. We cannot just stand by idly when there's the possibility that there might be people alive under the rubble. Help arrived very late in most places, and in some, it has still not arrived."

Sixty-year-old Juan Avendo, whose home has also been destroyed, says: "We could hear the screams and shouts of people trapped under the rubble. So we tried to help them ourselves, using our bare hands, clawing through the debris with our nails."

Interim President Delcy Rodríguez has called the earthquakes the "most brutal natural catastrophe" in Venezuela's history.