A tale of two buildings: How quake rescue efforts differed in Colombia and Venezuela

Recent earthquakes in both countries have exposed sharply different government capacities to respond to disaster.

Devastating earthquakes weeks apart in Venezuela and Colombia have exposed sharply different government capacities to respond to disaster, according to witnesses in both countries, aid workers and a security firm.

A tale of two buildings: how quake rescue efforts differed in Colombia and Venezuela  reuters.com

CALI, Colombia, Aug 15 - At a flattened apartment block known as Los Cocos in northern Venezuela, civilians toiled with little support to pull the living and the dead from the rubble. In neighboring Colombia, when residential towers in Cali collapsed, officials poured in to help.

Israel is one of the four countries, alongside the US, Ecuador, and El Salvador, to have been requested by Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella to send a search-and-rescue team.

"The earthquake is haunting me," Deivi Delfín says. The 15-year-old feels like he and his brother, Winder, have been chased by tremors these past few months, having lived through two that struck with devastating effect in Venezuela, only to get caught up in another this week after moving to Colombia. He tells the BBC t

Volunteer aids rescue efforts after Colombia quake  CNN

Deivi Delfín and his brother moved to Colombia after a quake in Venezuela killed their mother, but were caught in another deadly disaster.

CALI/PEREIRA, Colombia, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Hopes of finding more survivors of the powerful earthquake that rocked Colombia early this week were fading on Thursday as rescue workers narrowed their searches, while families in the worst-hit areas waited for news of missing relatives.

Hopes of finding more survivors of the powerful earthquake that rocked Colombia early this week were fading as rescue workers narrowed their searches, while families in the worst-hit areas waited for news of missing relatives.

Topos Azteca, a Mexican volunteer rescue group that works worldwide and helped after the Sept. 11 attacks, arrived in Colombia after searching for survivors in Venezuela.

Thursday morning will mark 72 hours since the quake in Colombia, where "people are surprised that the government didn't accept the help from foreign rescue teams", says our journalist Rosa Perez.

President de La Espriella promises to set up an emergency fund to help rebuild destroyed hospitals and schools.

48 hours after the devastating earthquake in Colombia, its president said the death toll jumped to 181 people, and thousands were still reported missing. Lilia Luciano reports on a rescue effort in a hard-hit city.

The Azteca International Rescue Brigade, known as the Topos, or Moles, were finishing up post-rescue work in Venezuela when the 7.4 quake hit neighboring Colombia Monday morning

Cali, the capital of Colombia's Valle del Cauca department, has become the center of rescue operations after a magnitude-7.4 earthquake struck Monday.