Rescuers’ efforts have also been hampered by aftershocks, which are in turn terrifying residents.

“To be honest, it makes you feel kind of nervous. Any little noise… horrible,” Jesús Andueza, a 64-year-old bus driver told BBC Mundo.

Thousands of people are living in their cars or camping at places like the airport and golf course, away from buildings that could collapse.

The golf course in Caraballeda has become an epicentre for the emergency response.

Its green lawn, which used to be perfectly manicured, is now a makeshift hospital and donation centre, where residents who have lost everything are sifting through piles of donated clothing and boxes of humanitarian aid.

Milagros González, who lives in Caribe, told BBC Mundo that her building was one of the few that didn’t collapse, and she fled as soon as she could to take refuge at the golf course.

“I left with my two young daughters and my two elderly relatives. But thank God we got out alive. The building can’t be lived in. But we’re alive, which is what matters,” she said.

Rodríquez said the José María Vargas sports complex in La Guaira was also serving as an emergency response centre.

Pointing out that the armed forces were sorting clothes, medicine and food, Rodríguez said “everything is functioning as well as possible during these terrible moments, these terrible hours, that our people are enduring”.

“Let them know that no one here is alone, not a single family or individual need [to] feel alone. Our people and our state are here, the social protection system is here, and international solidarity is here.”