False quake survivor claims distress Venezuelan families

False claims that people had been found alive in Venezuela's earthquake zone a month after the disaster are spreading quickly on social media, giving some bereaved families false hope.

Relatives are still searching for loved ones trapped under rubble after 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude tremors struck northern Venezuela on June 24. On Wednesday night, a false claim that three people had been found alive at the OPP 26 housing complex in La Guaira, the worst-hit city, circulated on social media. Some relatives of missing people rushed to the site after seeing the claim.

Naiti Sarria, who has spent a month searching for her 74-year-old mother-in-law Olga Hernandez, said the false information was painful for families. Hernandez lived in one of OPP 26's 12-storey buildings. Sarria said it was wrong to play with the feelings of people waiting at the site.

Venezuela's civil protection agency issued a statement saying that alleged rescues of survivors at that address were false.

The earthquakes killed more than 5,000 people and injured almost 17,000, while more than 23,000 people in the coastal state of La Guaira have been made homeless. The United Nations estimates that up to 50,000 people are missing.