Venezuela earthquakes: Death toll rises to at least 1,400 as searches continue, officials say

Death toll over 1,400, official says

At least 1,430 people were killed and more than 3,200 were injured as a pair of powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday evening, officials said on Friday.

The two quakes -- a 7.2 magnitude one followed just seconds later by a 7.5 -- struck the coast of Venezuela, knocking down buildings in Caracas, the capital, and sending residents racing into the street.

Responders are undertaking "intensive rescue operations" on Thursday, searching for people thought to be under the rubble, acting President Delcy Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said that 3,238 people were injured and more than 400 aftershocks have been recorded.

US official gives update on American search and rescue team missions

The two federal search and rescue teams that were sent to Venezuela at max deployment levels are currently on the ground there pulling people from collapsed buildings, a U.S. official told ABC News Saturday.

"We heard that survivors were found in the last few hours, and they're going to work as hard as they can over the next few days out in the field," the official said.

The official then said that two teams from Miami-Dade, Florida, had been activated and federalized, marking the first time in over a decade the State Department had deployed USAR teams beyond USA-1 and USA-2.

The senior administration official announced that U.S. teams had repaired one of the runways at Simón Bolivar airport.

In addition to $150 million already committed to the Venezuela earthquakes response, the official said the Trump administration was preparing "an additional package right now of nine figures that we're going to announce in the next day or so."