At least 164 people were killed and 971 were injured as a result of two powerful earthquakes in Venezuela that occurred on the evening of June 24, according to international news agencies, including the Associated Press, CNN, and Reuters, citing the country’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez.
“At least 164 people were killed and 971 were injured after two powerful earthquakes shook Venezuela,” Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said on Thursday, adding that rescue teams are rushing to the hardest-hit areas to free people trapped under the rubble,” the AP reported on its website on Thursday.
The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes, which struck on Wednesday evening, were among the strongest to hit Venezuela in over a century and were felt throughout the region. The country’s main airport sustained damage and was closed, and buildings were evacuated even in such remote areas as the Brazilian Amazon, located approximately 1,700 km from Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.
According to Rodríguez, authorities are deploying rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira state, located on the coast north of Caracas. That state has been hit the hardest.
The acting president noted that they are trying to make the most of daylight hours to speed up rescue efforts for people believed to be trapped under the rubble. “Dozens of buildings have collapsed there… and we are now conducting intensive rescue operations to save lives,” said Rodríguez.
After 6:00 p.m. on June 24, two powerful earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 struck Venezuela in quick succession. Many buildings were reported to have collapsed.
The victim protection fund of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTIBU) almost doubled in 2018 compared with 2017, to UAH 1.204 billion, according to a report of the audit commission of the bureau. According to the report, the monthly contributions of MTIBU member insurance companies to the victim protection fund in 2018 increased 48.1%, to UAH 32.914 million, but the total basic guarantee fee decreased by 3.1%, to UAH 448.262 million.
According to the report of the audit commission, last year the additional guarantee fee DV1/DV2 increased 3.8 times, to UAH 308 million, the additional guarantee fee for the victim protection fund (10%) amounted to UAH 375.5 million.
The top 10 members of MTIBU account for 49% of contributions to the victim protection fund.
According to the report, in 2018, procedural insurance payments in claims in the amount of UAH 141.4 million were made from the victim protection fund, which is 25.2% more than a year earlier. At the same time, payments for bankrupt insurers fell by 45.7%, to UAH 3.765 million.
In addition, UAH 173.6 million was returned to the insurers which lost their membership in MTIBU, which is almost twice more than a year earlier. Costs for settling cases slightly increased and amounted to UAH 3.542 million, court costs came to UAH 7.13 million (a rise of 18.5%).
