LA GUAIRA — The United States military repaired and reopened a key seaport in the hardest hit area of Venezuela yesterday, as the country began burying more than 1,700 victims of twin earthquakes that have left tens of thousands still missing.

Five days after powerful back-to-back quakes flattened entire neighborhoods, the task of recovering the dead loomed large and hopes of finding survivors faded.

By the latest official count, some 1,700 are dead and 5,000 are injured, with no governmental word on the number missing. Other estimates place these in the tens of thousands.

The Port of La Guaira re-opened, where an AFP correspondent observed a warehouse storing hundreds of unidentified bodies encased in white and black body bags as well as a few coffins. The USS Fort Lauderdale was docked and delivering aid.

Dozens of relatives from this devastated region waited outside the makeshift morgue for news of their families as forensic personnel in blue uniforms examined the corpses.

Nearby, buildings turned into mountains of rubble are being dug at by rescuers and volunteers in the hope of finding life. It is a remote possibility five days after the quakes.

American airmen were also helping restore traffic at Simon Bolivar International Airport near Caracas, which was also heavily damaged.

Yesterday, a new 4.6 magnitude tremor rekindled fear among the population.