After Venezuela's quakes, experts say environmental and health risks have just begun

BOGOTA, Colombia -- More than a month has passed since Venezuela’s devastating earthquakes, and the constant sound of heavy machinery still echoes through the hardest-hit neighborhoods of La Guaira on the northern coast.Dust from collapsed buildings hangs in the humid air. Garbage has piled up. Families camp outside homes deemed too dangerous to enter. Water trucks weave through damaged streets.“The smell of corpses is very strong" in some neighborhoods, said Carolina de Jesús, Venezuela project director for the humanitarian organization Project HOPE, who has spent nearly every day in the region since the quakes.Public health and environmental experts told The Associated Press the coming weeks are critical to preventing secondary crises caused by contaminants from the rubble and rebuilding.Government figures say the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes on June 24 killed over 5,000 people, injured nearly 17,000 and left almost 18,000 homeless. Authorities have not said how many remain missing, though estimates put the figure in the tens of thousands. The World Bank estimates the quakes caused $19.6 billion in direct physical damage.Survivors are now experiencing the environmental costs in a...