Juan Zapata had just finished dinner in his fifth-floor apartment with views of the Caribbean Sea when twin earthquakes struck Venezuela's coast ten days earlier, flinging him across the room.

He remained trapped in the debris for two days and seven hours, pinned between sections of rebar, until civilian rescuers freed him.

"When they were rescuing me I said, 'I'm on the fifth floor' and they told me, 'no, you're in the lower basement.' I could not believe what had happened," Zapata recalled while standing beside his cot at a field hospital in La Guaira state operated by Samaritan's Purse.

Zapata first received care at the public hospital in La Guaira, the area most severely affected by the quakes, before arriving at the field facility after discovering his building, Costa Brava, had been leveled.

He is healing from multiple fractured ribs along with deep cuts and bruises. His lower legs remain wrapped in bandages and breathing continues to cause pain.

Thousands homeless, thousands dead, trauma from the earthquake

"All my material things were lost, but God has given me health," he said.

Zapata has been unable to reach his daughter in the United States or his sister in Canada because he lost his phone during the disaster. He also lacks any identification or official documents.

On Saturday officials raised the confirmed death toll to 2,954 and reported that nearly 30,000 government personnel plus 3,281 foreign rescue workers have been sent to assist those impacted by the quakes.

State authorities confirmed that 189 buildings have collapsed.

More than 16,000 individuals are now without homes according to government data. Some reside in official shelters while others stay in tent camps. An unofficial count of missing persons widely cited stands at just over 41,000.

The field hospital, established through coordination between the US State Department and several aid organizations, has cared for roughly 400 patients so far, according to medical director Peter Holz. Nearly 30 surgeries are expected to be completed by Saturday evening.

"In the beginning it is all trauma from the earthquake, then we will have follow-up surgical visits," Holz noted while inside the hospital pharmacy set up on a former baseball field.

Over time the 100-person Samaritan's Purse team will transfer operations to local physicians, either by continuing at the field location or by integrating equipment and supplies into nearby clinics where they will stay permanently, he explained.

"It will develop more into a community health center," Holz added. "There are a lot of sad stories but also a lot of hope in the midst of all of it."

Civilian commitment to volunteering and aid

Venezuela's Interim President Delcy Rodriguez has strongly denied claims that her administration responded too slowly to the quakes following widespread criticism of the official effort.

On Saturday the government updated the death toll to 2,954 and stated that nearly 30,000 officials along with 3,281 international rescuers are assisting quake victims.

More than 16,000 people remain homeless per official counts. Some occupy shelters while others live in tent encampments. An unofficial tally of the missing exceeds 41,000.

Civilians including survivors, relatives, volunteer paramedics and foreign teams have rushed to affected zones since the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes hit on June 24.

Many volunteers and aid groups report that the government response was slow and inadequate, with food and medical supplies arriving late and heavy machinery remaining scarce during rescue operations.

At a damaged public housing complex in La Guaira known as Los Cocos, a civilian crew led by Alexander Delgado, normally a physical education teacher, continued pulling victims from the rubble on Saturday, nine days after Delgado arrived from Aragua state.

Miguel Poleo joined the effort to locate his stepdaughter and her family. So far he has recovered only their dog, found dead in the debris.

"I do not think they are alive anymore," he said while resting from clearing debris from a tunnel.

"The president said that help arrived quickly, but it was not like that," Poleo said. "We have received help from regular people."

Although groups of soldiers assist with rescues, official presence remains limited, he noted.

"The police are walking around with their guns, their semi-automatics, as if we are in a war," Poleo said. "What we need them to do is work."

Poleo and Delgado both stated they would remain until all victims are recovered.

Poleo, a former mechanic, hopes to allow his wife the opportunity to bury her daughter and grandchildren.

"We need to find the bodies."