"BOGOTA, Colombia — More than a month has passed since Venezuela’s devastating earthquakes, and the constant sound of heavy machinery still echoes through the hardest-hit neighborhoods of La Guaira on the northern coast.

Dust from collapsed buildings hangs in the humid air. Garbage has piled up. Families camp outside homes deemed too dangerous to enter. Water trucks weave through damaged streets.

“The smell of corpses is very strong” in some neighborhoods, said Carolina de Jesús, Venezuela project director for the humanitarian organization Project HOPE, who has spent nearly every day in the region since the quakes.

Public health and environmental experts told The Associated Press the coming weeks are critical to preventing secondary crises caused by contaminants from the rubble and rebuilding."

Steven Grattan reports fot the Associated Press July 29, 2026. [2]