La Guaira, Venezuela – The smell of death grows stronger as we climb to the top of a collapsed building on the seafront of Venezuela’s La Guaira, a state that has been decimated by back-to-back earthquakes in June.Al Jazeera correspondent Zein Basravi and I have flown in with the Qatar International Search and Rescue Group to document the fallout from this devastating natural disaster.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe fetid smell hangs heavily as the Qatari team, alongside the Syrian White Helmets, attempt to separate a body from a tangle of concrete and tiles, their toil made harder by the intense midday sun.As the buried person is unearthed, stale waves of decay emanate outward, and despite my face mask, I’m forced to suppress a gag and the urgent need to turn away.Since the earthquakes struck on June 24, the death toll has been steadily climbing, currently standing at more than 4,300.As we travelled along the coast of La Guaira to the city of Catia La Mar, that number felt low.Our car picked its way slowly around the debris littering the road. All around us, the surrounding buildings are in unrecognisable states.There are pancaked low-rise houses where roofs now sit directly on top of their ground floors. Taller buildings have collapsed on their sides like slain giants. One large housing complex had its exterior stripped away, displaying the domestic se …
