Venezuela quake death toll passes 4,300 as scale of recovery effort looms large

The death toll in Venezuela's devastating twin earthquakes has passed 4,300, the government said on Saturday. At least 4,333 people were killed and 16,740 injured in the back-to-back quakes on 24 June that flattened entire districts in the coastal state of La Guaira. Thousands more people are listed as missing.

A 7.5-magnitude quake - the biggest in Venezuela in over a century - struck 39 seconds after a 7.2-magnitude shock, flattening entire high-rise apartment blocks.

The United Nations on Wednesday issued an urgent appeal for nearly $300m towards earthquake relief operations to assist 1.3 million people in urgent need of aid.

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has estimated direct physical damage at about $37bn.

Acting President Delcy Rodriguez has called on the international community to release frozen Venezuelan assets, including gold reserves held at the Bank of England, to fund the recovery effort.