Another earthquake of magnitude 4.9 struck Venezuela on Saturday morning amid frenzied rescue operations and a mounting death toll. Tens of thousands remain missing after two devastating 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes struck late on Wednesday — the strongest to hit the South American nation in more than a century. At least 920 people have been reported dead, and the toll appears likely to rise as rescue crews comb through the rubble.

Data from the US Geological Survey indicates that two moderate earthquakes took place near the Venezuelan coast in the past few hours. The first struck on Friday morning with a magnitude of 4.4 and an epicentre, some 17 kilometres from the coastal city of Morón. The second came in the early hours of Saturday — striking with a magnitude of 4.7 about 54 kilometers from El Limón.

Venezuelans took the search for missing loved ones into their own hands Friday amid a continued scarcity of government rescuers. Citizens digging through the rubble of their homes told AP that they had seen few state rescue teams in the areas hit hardest — despite authorities projecting an image of a robust government response.

Millions affected

The devastation goes beyond the growing list of casualties and missing people — with the International Organization for Migration predicting that up to 6.76 million people could be affected, including some 2 million of them in Caracas alone. Experts said that the destruction had been amplified by the quick succession of shallow quakes.

the International Red Cross’ regional director for the Americas told AP News that “people are still terrified to reenter what were their homes.” Many have continued to sleep on the street, while others queue up for scarce resources or dig through rubble for their missing friends and family.

Omar Reyes told AP that around 20 family members died.

“I’ve been left alone in this life,” Reyes said, walking through the rubble where two of his children were buried.

A few miles away, Yuleidy Cadenas, 28, stood across the street from a collapsed public housing building, hoping her son, mother and brother would be pulled out alive. She fled barefoot from another building as it collapsed on Wednesday and found her mother’s 12-floor apartment tower had pancaked.

“I got on top of the rubble and told them to yell back, and nobody did, not my brother, nor my son or my mother,” Cadenas told AP.

Relief measures turn chaotic

People lined up outside stores and pharmacies that served them one by one behind closed doors in the city of Maiquetia. At one point, AP News reported, a woman in the crowd was seen throwing herself to the ground in a desperate bid to protect a package of diapers with her body.

Traffic and throngs of motorcyclists have also disrupted search efforts at times. Mexican soldiers and volunteers repeatedly asked for silence to try to hear signs of life under the rubble, but bikers – civilian and uniformed – continued to honk horns and rev engines to the first responders’ frustration.

Some people began to carry off basic goods such as toilet paper and food from stores in Catia La Mar, adjacent to the country’s main airport. Others swarmed a civilian pickup truck that was giving out bread and water, until a soldier intervened. The parking lot of a pharmacy turned into a makeshift shelter with tarps, hammocks and tents.