A cemetery in La Guaira state, Venezuela, has excavated new trenches to bury hundreds of people killed in the powerful twin earthquakes nearly two weeks ago. Many of the bodies being laid to rest remain unidentified.
Earthquake Aftermath
CNN observed heavy machinery working at La Esperanza cemetery, while personnel moved coffins into the ground and prepared additional graves for the bodies. Satellite images show more than 20 rows of freshly dug trenches, each one large enough to fit multiple caskets side by side.
A cemetery worker told CNN that the cemetery has dug around 500 new burial plots in response to the emergency and reserved an area with about 150 graves for unidentified victims. The rows of new graves reflect the magnitude of last month’s disaster, which left at least 3,535 people dead, 16,740 injured, and 17,854 displaced.
Many families are still waiting for answers about the whereabouts of their loved ones. In the area reserved for unidentified victims at the cemetery, each body receives an individual grave separated by plots and marked with a code to make it easier for families to locate their loved ones in the future.
Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.
