* Trapped 44-year-old pulled out over a week after quakes

struck

* Civilians, many of them volunteers, continue to lead

response to disaster

* 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes killed 2,295 people,

government figures show

* Verisk expects economic losses from quakes to exceed $10

billion

(Adds oil minister in paragraph 19, Verisk estimate in

paragraph 11, reporting from hospitals, WHO comments in

paragraphs 22-27)

By Alberto Fajardo and Mayela Armas

CATIA LA MAR/LA GUAIRA, Venezuela, July 2 (Reuters) -

R escuers dug out alive a 44-year-old security guard trapped in

the ruins of the mall where he worked in the Venezuelan state of

La Guaira, more than a week after two strong earthquakes

devastated the country's northern coast.

Work to save Hernan Alberto Gil from the rubble of the

nine-story Galerias Playa Grande shopping center began on

Monday, according to Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele, who has

been posting updates on X about the operation that also involved

teams from Chile, the United States, Portugal, Mexico, Costa

Rica and Venezuela.

Rescuers were able to provide him with hydration via tubing,

Bukele has said, but needed to dig two separate tunnels to try

to reach him, because of the instability of the ruins.

Gil was carried out of the rubble on a stretcher on Thursday

morning and loaded into an ambulance as cheering rescuers and

reporters looked on.

"I'm grateful to God for keeping him alive for so many days,

despite not being able to eat or stay hydrated," said Gusbimar

Gonzalez, Gil's wife.

"He endured it all like a warrior."

Rescuers said they abandoned their original plan after

deciding the first tunnel could provide structural support but

was not safe for a rescue operation, prompting them to open a

second access route.

The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes struck less than a minute

apart almost eight days ago, killing 2,295 people, according to

the latest government figures.

The number of people listed as still missing on an

unofficial but widely used online list was down to some 38,600

on Thursday morning, after peaking at nearly 60,000 in the days

immediately after the quake.

A United Nations envoy this week said it was procuring

10,000 body bags for Venezuela and the USGS has estimated more

than ⁠10,000 deaths were possible.

Catastrophe and risk modeling firm Verisk said it expects

economic losses from the quakes to top $10 billion.

CIVILIAN RESPONDERS

Venezuela's socialist government, in power under three different

leaders since 1999, has for years promoted

"civilian-military-police unity" and high-ranking security

officials hold power over huge business interests.

State television has regularly shown interim President Delcy

Rodriguez meeting with military and security officials while

groups of soldiers as well as police have been patrolling major

roads in La Guaira and sometimes directing traffic.

Still, the response to the disaster has been led by civilians,

many of them volunteers.

Victims of the quake have spent days trying to dig out loved

ones with their hands, shovels and pickaxes, assisted by

firefighters, civil protection corps, thousands of members of

foreign rescue teams, student doctors and nurses, civilians

who normally work as teachers and veterinarians and

occasionally, a soldier.

Soldiers working for days alongside civilians in the six

collapsed towers of a major public housing project in La Guaira

told Reuters they had volunteered to help there.

Many rescuers have decried a lack of heavy machinery needed to

move huge slabs of concrete.

Oil minister Paula Henao on Thursday said a cargo of diesel was

sent from the country's largest refining complex, Paraguana, to

La Guaira for the rescuers' use, underscoring previous

government statements that the quakes have led to only minor

delays at terminals.

Authorities were also inspecting state-run PDVSA's Catia La Mar

fuel terminal for damage, which is located in one of the areas

most affected by the quakes.

FLOW OF HOSPITAL PATIENTS EASES

In the days immediately after the twin tremors, much of the

water, food and other basic supplies arriving in La Guaira was

ferried in by thousands of civilians, many on motorcycles.

Now volunteers are running shelters for those who have lost

their homes, receiving some official help but setting their

rules and even creating their own tracking system for residents.

At one of the main medical centers serving the disaster zone, a

hospital in the Vargas municipality, staff and residents said

the flow of patients had begun to ease compared with the days

immediately after the quakes.

Beds and mattresses that had filled areas outside the

emergency ward eight days earlier had thinned out by Thursday.

Patients requiring specialized treatment are being

transferred to hospitals in Caracas after receiving emergency

care and first aid, hospital official Carolina Leon said.

Francia Rodriguez, 61, whose sister was hospitalized after

suffering a stroke, said care remained available and that the

only supplies she had needed to provide were medications.

About 4 miles (6 kilometers) away, a Brazilian Navy field

hospital that began operating on Monday had treated 180 people

by Thursday, according to commander Leonel Mariano. The

facility, spread across five tents near the beach, includes an

intensive care unit, operating theater, orthopedics, pediatrics,

general medicine and a pharmacy.

"We are coordinating buses to bring people here from the

shelters," Mariano said. "We haven't performed surgery yet, but

we've had some intensive care cases, some serious cases."

The World Health Organization said the earthquake had

compounded an already severe humanitarian crisis and strained a

health system that was struggling to meet demand. Healthcare

workers were also among the victims, affecting the medical

response, WHO incident manager Ian Clark said on Thursday.

The agency has released $1.5 million from its emergency

contingency fund and shipped medical supplies including trauma

kits, protective equipment and body bags.

Even when security officials are present at collapsed

buildings, their presence has not always been welcomed.

Some Venezuelans have vented their frustration on social media,

sharing videos showing security officials picking through the

destruction and taking clothes, appliances and cash.

Reuters has not verified the videos' authenticity, but the

Interior Ministry said that four crime scene police officials

​have been detained and removed from their jobs for

"appropriating financial assets acquired amid the ruins."