Some 2,000 US personnel are assisting in the response to the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela last week, a top US general said on Wednesday.
The Defense Department “has roughly 2,000 teammates in the area — on land, air, and sea — around Venezuela,” General Francis Donovan, the head of US Southern Command, told journalists.
“They are working hard daily to help in the search-and-rescue efforts, to help in the recovery efforts, to deliver needed supplies,” Donovan said.
Devastating back-to-back 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes struck Venezuela’s Caribbean coast last Wednesday, collapsing buildings, damaging the country’s main airport and leaving nearly 2,300 dead and tens of thousands missing.
The United States has rushed assistance to Venezuela at a time when ties between Washington and Caracas have warmed after American forces captured former president Nicolas Maduro in a January raid and the Trump administration began working with an interim government led by Delcy Rodriguez.
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