Jeff Sombrito, a volunteer firefighter in Catia la Mar, has spent the last five days rescuing people and pulling bodies from the rubble. He has also been with some victims in their final moments.
“The most difficult part has been finding people alive but trapped, and not being able to reach them to due to moving rubble,” he recalled. “We just had to talk to the person. Tell them to wait and keep calm.”
Eventually, some of the voices fell silent.
More than 43,000 people are still unaccounted for, according to a crowdsourcing website dedicated to tracking the missing. Many locals credit everyday Venezuelans like Sombrito as leading the rescue effort.
Soldiers stand nearby on the main road in Catia La Mar, some clustered together in groups of three or four.
One officer from Venezuela’s General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) told Al Jazeera that they have been ordered to direct traffic and restrict access to some areas. He declined to provide his name when asked.
The outrage at the government’s response has fed into the political backlash against the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which has governed the country for more than a quarter-century.
Henry Alviarez, the national coordinator for Vente Venezuela, a leading opposition coalition, said authorities were failing to organise the response effectively.
“In the end, they are hindering the steps. What they have to do is organise in a coordinated way, create contingency plans, get all the volunteers to assist these people,” he said.
“The indignation from this inaction is the regime’s fault.”
But the government of President Delcy Rodriguez has received key support from the international community, most notably the United States.
The US has committed $300m so far to the emergency response efforts, with President Donald Trump pledging his government “will be there for our new and great friends”.
The European Union is also providing 5 million euros ($5.71m) in support. A flight is scheduled to leave early this week from Copenhagen, carrying about 50 tonnes of shelter material, water and sanitation equipment and education supplies.
Overall, more than 3,600 rescue and support workers and 118 search-and-rescue dogs from around the world are working to sift through the rubble with specialist equipment.
Those contributions come on top of a mass mobilisation of Venezuelan citizens. The capital, Caracas, has become a central hub for distributing donated supplies.