Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodríguez has defended her country's emergency response to the twin earthquakes that killed over 3,000 people, insisting the nation will not descend into social unrest. Speaking during a military ceremony marking independence day, Rodríguez declared, 'There will be no social unrest here - what we have here is deep social solidarity.' She noted that thousands of public officials and rescue teams had been dispatched to help dig out victims and find survivors.

Many Venezuelans, however, have expressed anger at what they see as an inadequate response from the US-backed government before international teams arrived. As of Sunday night, the death toll had risen to 3,342, with over 16,700 injured. The 24 June disaster, one of Latin America's worst earthquake events, collapsed scores of buildings and left thousands homeless, particularly in the coastal La Guaira area north of Caracas.

Eleven days after the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes, international rescue teams are wrapping up operations, but families are still digging for loved ones. Rosa López's son-in-law, 25-year-old José Antonio Toledo, was found under his workplace building. After being turned away by a hospital with no space, his body was finally transferred to an open parking lot. A forensic doctor helped the family locate him days later, but they couldn't afford the $450 (£350) a funeral home charged. At almost midnight on Saturday, the mayor's office offered a free cemetery plot - an hour later, López and her daughter buried Toledo themselves.

'He was an exemplary person, a boy who liked helping people,' López said. They saved him from a mass grave, but many fear that's coming. Forensic technician Joel Mirabal, 45, has worked seven days straight since the quakes. He estimates 60-70% of bodies have a relative or neighbor to identify them, but it's a struggle. 'They don't look even 10% like what they were in real life,' he said. Unidentified bodies go to forensic specialists at La Guaira seaport, where donated cooling containers help preserve them. 'Obviously, mass graves will have to be created,' Mirabal said, noting the collapse is massive and bodies are buried under many layers of debris. He and other technicians anticipate spending up to three months collecting bodies.