U.S. Southern Command<\/a>, the interim government of Venezuela formally requested U.S. support following the twin 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes. American forces are providing \u201cspecialized mobility services and support to U.S. government personnel, search and rescue teams, and U.S. interagency partners as they assess damage, locate the injured, and deliver critical, life-saving assistance.\u201d<\/p>\nOn Wednesday, a 7.2 magnitude quake hit north-central Venezuela near Yumare. Just 39 seconds later, a larger 7.5 magnitude quake struck in nearly the same location, along the fault that marks the boundary between the Caribbean and South American plates. The earthquakes have left entire neighborhoods in ruins. <\/p>\n
As of Friday morning, the death toll has risen to 589 and thousands more are injured, according to Acting President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez.<\/p>\n
Rodr\u00edguez noted that she welcomed the arrival of rescue crews from all over the world, as the death toll is expected to continue to rise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to rescue the people who are trapped,\u201d she said during a state televised update. \u201cWe are working tirelessly on this task.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the warships heading to the South American nation, C-17 Globemaster and C-130 Hercules transport aircraft as well as fixed and rotary wing aircraft are en route to assist search and rescue teams, according to U.S. SOUTHCOM.<\/p>\n
Fort Lauderdale and Billings have been assigned to Operation Southern Spear as part of the Pentagon\u2019s campaign to combat what it has labeled as narcoterrorist operations to push illicit drugs into the United States.<\/p>\n
Late Thursday evening, Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Jarrard arrived on the ground in Caracas to coordinate SOUTHCOM\u2019s response and direct humanitarian assistance to the affected areas. <\/p>\n
Jarrard will serve as the senior U.S. Southern Command official in Venezuela, overseeing the aid and rescue efforts that have at times been reduced to shovels, hammers and basic tools to assist rescue efforts as the nation\u2019s emergency resources became stretched thin. <\/p>\n
In a press conference on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed the importance of the next 48 hours and the critical aid the U.S. military can provide following the destabilizing earthquakes. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe most immediate need, the one they need right now, is search and rescue,\u201d said Rubio. \u201cThat\u2019s the one they need immediately, because you\u2019ve got to get people out of that rubble within 48 hours or they won\u2019t survive. And so that\u2019s the first thing we\u2019re going to respond to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claire Barrett is an editor and military history correspondent for Military Times. She is also a World War II researcher with an unparalleled affinity for Sir Winston Churchill and Michigan football.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two U.S. warships, the USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) and the littoral combat ship USS Billings (LCS-15), have been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[91224,91225,91226,91223,91227,18011,35358,249,251,250,91287,133387,133385,133386,4390],"class_list":["post-321692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-circulated-air-force-times","tag-circulated-army-times","tag-circulated-marine-corps-times","tag-circulated-military-times","tag-circulated-navy-times","tag-disaster-relief","tag-earthquakes","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-military-times","tag-us-southcom","tag-uss-billings","tag-uss-fort-lauderdale","tag-venezuela"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}