Venezuela President Delcy Rodriguez revealed on Friday that there have been 214 aftershocks since the twin earthquakes rattled the Latin American nation on Wednesday evening.
The death toll has more than doubled to 589, she revealed. The number of injured was recorded at 2,980. The previous official update put the number of casualties at 235 deaths and 4,300 injuries.
What is an earthquake 'doublet'?
The twin earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 have left hundreds of people trapped under rubble. The event, termed as a "doublet", happens when similar-sized quakes follow in quick succession and within short distance from each other. In Venezuela quakes, the second one was recorded in just 39 seconds.
In the case of doublets, the quakes are of similar magnitude and casually linked, but seimologically originating from distinct sources. In the Venezuelan quake, the epicentres were within a few kilometres of each othe. But they originated from different faults with different rupture styles, reports AP.
This is different from typical earthquake sequence, where a larger quake is followed by smaller aftershocks.
While doublets are uncommon, earthquake triplets have also been recorded in the past. In 1988, a series of three earthquakes occurred in Australia's Tennant Creek within 30 minutes apart from each other.
Emergency response intensified, aid flows in
In order to smoothen emergency response, the government has "militarised" the state of La Guaira, which was among the worst affected regions.
This comes as international aid pour in to the quake-jolted nation. India sent two Indian Air Force C-17 planes carrying an Indian Army Field Hospital Unit and more than 35 tonne of relief supplies, medicine and medical equipment as part of Operation Amistad. Amistad is Spanish for friendship.
This includes two BHISHM (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog, Hita, and Maitri) Cubes, which are modular medical emergency systems that can be set up in just 12 minutes. A single Cube can support medical care and basic surgeries for up to 200 casualties.
The UN humanitarian affairs body mobilised 25 international teams comprising 1,000 personnel while the US mobilised $150 million in aid.
