The smell of death lingers in the sweltering heat along Venezuela¡¯s Caribbean coast, where displaced families sleep on bunk beds in converted school classrooms and newly dug graves line a nearby cemetery.
Three weeks after twin earthquakes rocked the densely populated state of La Guaira, the frantic search for survivors has given way to a grim reality: burying the dead, caring for thousands left homeless and rebuilding shattered communities.
At La Esperanza cemetery, rows of freshly painted white crosses stretch across a dusty hillside beneath the blazing sun. Inside every buried coffin, sealed within a body bag, lies one of more than 300 quake victims whose identity remains unknown.
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