Sawt Falasteen - Venezuela twin quakes kill at least 164 with many trapped under rubble

An international outpouring of aid quickly followed the tremors on Wednesday evening, which the United States Geological Survey measured as magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, centered west of the capital Caracas.

The toll has climbed quickly, with interim President Delcy Rodriguez reporting at least 164 dead and over 970 hurt, noting that the state of La Guaira north of Caracas was hit hard.

"Right now we have nothing, not even the strength or the courage to go in there," Larry Rojas, 49, told AFP, standing in front of a collapsed building where his family was trapped in the La Guaira city of Catia La Mar.

The coastal city was without electricity, and many residents spent the night in the streets or searching for their relatives, according to AFP reporters.

The 7.5-magnitude earthquake was Venezuela's most powerful since October 29, 1900, when a 7.7-magnitude tremor struck offshore.

Threatening to complicate the relief effort, the international airport near Caracas was closed due to "serious damage," Rodriguez said, with social media video showing the terminal's ceiling collapsing over panicked travelers.

- 'No one saving them' -

The first quake, with an epicenter 21 kilometers (13 miles) west of the coastal town of Moron, occurred at 2204 GMT, USGS said. Within a minute, a 7.5-magnitude quake struck about 45 kilometers away. They struck at depths of 22 kilometers and 10 kilometers, respectively.

Scores of rescuers were deploying from the United States and several European countries, while specialists certified by the United Nations were also on their way to help search for survivors, Rodriguez said.

Other nations including China, India, Brazil and even war-battered Iran offered help.

"We have a whole-of-government response. It'll be big, it'll be fast, and it'll be effective," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters during a visit to Bahrain, saying his country's military would play a "big logistical role."

Washington is closely involved in oil-rich Venezuela after US forces captured president Nicolas Maduro in January.

Many residential buildings in La Guaira were left with large cracks or collapsed walls, with dozens of others destroyed.

"There are people alive in there and no one is coming to save them," said a woman waiting for news of her daughter, who was buried in the rubble of a 12-story building.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello asked people to leave their homes, adding that gas supplies had been cut to some buildings as a precaution.

"We have some damaged structures and we don't want any kind of accident involving gas to occur," he said.

In Caracas, the quakes sent residents fleeing into the streets.

"The stairs came away, the whole wall cracked. Things fell from the ceiling. It was horrible," said 54-year-old bank employee Odalis Escalona.

A 22-story building was completely destroyed in the capital's Altamira neighborhood, where people cried out relatives' names as volunteers climbed over the rubble.

"We need flashlights," one of them said.

- 'We couldn't get out' -

Shoppers at a Caracas mall screamed in panic when the quakes hit.

"It was unbelievable, I don't even know how long it lasted," said shopkeeper Heidi Romero, who was on the top floor at the time.

Carmen Guedez, 69, who lives in a hilly middle-class neighborhood above Caracas, was with her bedridden sister when she felt the jolts.

"It kept getting stronger," she told AFP. "I started to see the windows begin to move and then everything shook."

She described how she "huddled together" with her sister and a neighbor, adding that "we couldn't get out."

The states of Trujillo, Carabobo, Miranda and La Guaira were the hardest hit, according to Cabello.

The quake was felt as far away as the Colombian capital of Bogota, where alarms sounded and some residents evacuated buildings as a precaution.

The strongest tremors in earthquake-prone Venezuela's recent history occurred in the northeast in 1997, killing 73 people, and in Caracas in 1967, when 236 people died.

L.AbuTayeh--SF-PST