Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) said Moises was buried under about 3m (9.8ft) of debris, and the rescue team spent six hours conducting “high-precision work” on Saturday to reach him.

Reuters reported that a rescuer was overheard on a walkie-talkie saying the young boy was found near his sister and mother, who had both died.

Hours later, Delcy Rodríguez posted a video on X, purportedly showing the rescue of the second 11-year-old boy in the town of Caraballeda.

“In these hours, every life is hope for Venezuela,” she wrote.

Officials said the coastal region of La Guaira, where Caraballeda is located, has been hit the hardest.

Rescuers’ efforts have been hampered by aftershocks, which are in turn terrifying residents.

“To be honest, it makes you feel kind of nervous. Any little noise… horrible,” Jesús Andueza, a 64-year-old bus driver told BBC Mundo.

Thousands of people are living in their cars or camping at places like the airport and golf course, away from buildings that could collapse.

The golf course in Caraballeda has become an epicentre for the emergency response.

Its green lawn, which used to be perfectly manicured, is now a makeshift hospital and donation centre, where residents who have lost everything are sifting through piles of donated clothing and boxes of humanitarian aid.

In another part of the golf course, next to a small lagoon, a strip of land has been set up as a landing pad for helicopters arriving with supplies and emergency personnel from within Venezuela and abroad.

In the area surrounding the golf course, Caraballeda’s streets – cracked and covered in rubble – are marked by dust and silence, interrupted only by heavy machinery and those searching among the remains.