Venezuela's interim president has angrily rejected allegations that her government reacted too slowly to destruction caused by two earthquakes that killed more than 2000 people, after days of widespread criticism of the official response.
Civilians of all stripes - including survivors, family members, volunteer paramedics and foreign rescue teams - have descended on disaster areas, especially the hardest-hit northern state of La Guaira, since the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes struck on June 24.
Many of those digging through the rubble, along with international aid organisations, say the government's response was slow and ineffectual, with aid such as food and medical supplies delayed and an ongoing lack of heavy machinery to move debris amid ongoing search operations.
"It was a natural tragedy on a scale we never imagined, even though we knew that a seismic event could occur in our country," Delcy Rodriguez said in her first news conference since taking power in January, after the US ousted her predecessor Nicolas Maduro.
"We did not wait one, two or three days. We acted immediately."
Four thousand officials were deployed immediately, she said, rising to 14,000 the day after and then again to a current figure of 19,000.
She also issued an emergency decree to activate emergency protocols, she told journalists on Thursday.
"We've done everything in our power, and we'll continue to do everything in our power and more," she said, adding she had visited children in hospitals who had lost limbs and were mourning loved ones.
"I've had to go through some very painful experiences," Rodriguez said.
State television has regularly shown Rodriguez meeting military and security officials while soldiers and police have patrolled major roads in La Guaira and sometimes directed traffic.
Still, the response to the disaster has been led by civilians, many of them volunteers, according to Reuters witnesses.
People have spent days trying to dig out loved ones with their hands, shovels and pickaxes, assisted by firefighters, civil protection corps, foreign rescue teams, student doctors and nurses, civilians who usually work as teachers and veterinarians, and occasionally a soldier.
Rodriguez said the death toll stood at 2595, and the government was not yet ending its search and rescue efforts.
She did not give a tally for the missing, but an unofficial but widely used online list was down to 38,500 on Thursday after peaking at nearly 60,000 in the days immediately after the quakes.
A United Nations envoy said this week it was procuring 10,000 body bags for Venezuela and the US Geological Survey has estimated more than 10,000 deaths were possible.
Rodriguez lashed out at what she called "media laboratories" for creating a perception of chaos, and said they were politically motivated.
The IMF and World Bank had offered aid and credit for recovery efforts, Rodriguez said.
Venezuela was creating a $US200 million ($A289 million) reconstruction fund with the IMF, and money would go to audited contractors to reconstruct homes.
Amid the devastation, moments of survival are providing glimmers of hope for families still searching for loved ones.
Security guard Hernan Alberto Gil was rescued from the rubble of the nine-storey Galerias Playa Grande shopping centre early on Thursday, after days of work by rescue teams from El Salvador, Chile, the United States, Portugal, Mexico, Costa Rica and Venezuela.
"I'm grateful to God for keeping him alive for so many days," said Gusbimar Gonzalez, Gil's wife.
"He endured it all like a warrior."
Mexican rescuers pulled a dog named Sarita alive from a collapsed building after her owner alerted responders to noises beneath the debris.
The owner said the rescue gave him hope that his missing daughter might be found alive.
Australian Associated Press
