As quake rescue winds down, Venezuelans face horrors of recovering their own dead family members

He sliced off limbs to free the corpses of Leonel and his mother but was forced to abandon his sister, who was eight-months' pregnant, grandmother and other relatives beneath the ruins. Many say that just as they were left without government help to rescue survivors, so too are they now under-equipped to unearth their dead nearly two weeks later.

Authorities announced that the death toll rose on Monday to 3,535, with another 16,740 people injured.

There are 1.2 million tons of debris in the most affected parts of La Guaira, according to the United Nations Development Program.

Residents describe using hammers, crowbars and their bare hands to dig through collapsed buildings, with heavy machinery arriving days or weeks late. The government has acknowledged delays but attributes them to the unprecedented scale of the disaster.

One resident, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, told the AP: "We are on our own. The government is not here."