Portugal Colonial - Venezuelan mother digs with bare hands for missing son

Hers was one of many individual tragedies unfolding after quakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 hit in quick succession in northern Venezuela on Wednesday evening, with La Guaira among the worst-affected regions.

On Thursday night the death toll stood at 235, with around 4,300 people injured.

As time passed and no government help appeared, del Giudice became exasperated and flailed at the rubble.

"It is a lot of rock, and with bare hands it is impossible," she said, sitting not far from where she thought her son was trapped.

Her grandson Alessandro, 23, donned a volunteer firefighter's helmet and joined in the search for his missing father.

"He is in there," he said, sobbing as he looked at the remains of what was once a building.

In happier times, La Guaira, a town of around 25,000, was where people from the capital Caracas would visit to enjoy the Caribbean.

Its many tall buildings with swimming pools have been severely damaged by the tremors.

Interim president Delcy Rodriguez visited the region on Thursday and declared it a disaster area.

AFP observed looting in the community.

Ruined buildings and shell-shocked faces were everywhere.

Clouds of dust still floated in the air outside luxury seaside condos now reduced to piles of metal, glass and concrete.

The coastal highway was broken apart in several spots, and many buildings along the coast were unlivable or gone entirely.

Two five-star hotels also collapsed.

Rescue teams and volunteers climbed heaps of ruins that used to be buildings as tall as 15 stories, screaming out the names of the missing.

Some of the damaged buildings groaned with each new rumble of the earth, as Venezuela endured more aftershocks.

"Perez family, alive," was written on the wall of one house that looked as if it had been tossed like a toy.

M.A.Vaz--PC