The defiant search for miracles in quake-hit Venezuela

ITV News Correspondent Dan Rivers reports from Venezuela, where the death toll has risen to 1,700

Additional reporting by Washington Producer Joshua Brooks

The defiant search for miracles continues in La Guaira, despite the diminishing chances of finding any more survivors.

Five days after the twin earthquakes which flattened dozens of apartment blocks, many Venezuelans have given up waiting for the government to help, and are continuing the exhausting excavation of the ruins themselves.

Most are working with rudimentary tools, scraping and hammering at the re-enforced concrete to look for life.

Many are critical of the perceived slow response of the Venezuelan government and the continuing lack of coordinated searches.

There are chaotic scenes amid traffic choked streets where many soldiers and police appear to be doing little to search the ruins.

The window of opportunity to save any further trapped survivors is rapidly closing. / Credit: AP

The window of opportunity to save any further trapped survivors is rapidly closing, but there is little to suggest the government is targeting the sites where there is the greatest chance of finding life.

Instead, some residents have told us resources are being focused on the buildings where government officials were living.

Speaking on Monday, the Venezuelan government says they have created two commissions, one which will evaluate the damage and another to oversee temporary camps.

International search and rescue groups are here, together with some US military personnel, but there aren’t enough to scour every downed building.

The disaster has exposed the parlous state of the socialist government’s emergency response. / Credit: AP

The disaster has exposed the parlous state of the socialist government’s emergency response after decades of under investment and sanctions.

It has also put a spotlight on the US involvement here, which has in recent months exerted considerable influence over this country, now almost an American vassal state since the deposing of President Nicholas Maduro in January.

Despite Donald Trump’s tight grip on Venezuela’s leadership, it doesn’t seem to have resulted in a more effective response to this crisis.

The US State Department claim they have committed more than $300 million to the Venezuelan people.

Venezuela should be one of the world’s richest countries with vast proven oil reserves greater than those of Saudi Arabia.

Yet this earthquake has exposed poor building practices, lax regulation and a government incapable of helping its people in their hour of need, despite its ability to put down protests with overwhelming force.