VENEZUELA: FLOODING DISASTER: AERIAL SHOTS

Описание: (21 Dec 1999) Natural Sound

Authorities say the death toll could go as high as 30-thousand in the Venezuela flooding.

Coaxing victims into shelters was just one of the challenges facing Venezuelan relief efforts on Tuesday, six days after torrential downpours sent mud, water and boulders crashing down a mountain that separates Caracas from the Caribbean Sea.

Whole neighbourhoods have been wiped out.

The mudslides and flooding are the South American country's worst natural disaster this century.

The full magnitude of Venezuela's calamity may never be known.

Official estimates place the death toll anywhere between 5-thousand and 30-thousand, but authorities say they can't yet be precise.

Most of the bodies are thought to be buried deep under avalanches or carried out to sea.

Venezuela has asked the United States to provide 10-thousand plastic body bags, officials said.

More than 68-thousand people have been airlifted or bused from the disaster zone to Caracas and other cities.

Defence Minister General Raul Salazar said 2-thousand were still stranded in flood-wracked towns in Vargas state, one of the two hardest hit provinces.

Teams composed of soldiers, forensic specialists and search dogs were being dispatched to the state in a stepped-up search for the dead.

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