The double earthquake of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 that struck Venezuela on June 24, according to official data claimed around 1719 lives and caused widespread destruction mainly in the coastal state of La Guaira, it reported BBC. Among the most affected are the residents of the destroyed apartment complexes, and among the missing are also many Venezuelans who were deported from the United States just a few hours before the disaster.
President of the country Delcy Rodríguez characterized the earthquake as “the worst natural disaster in Venezuela’s history“. Nevertheless, many residents of the most affected areas accuse the authorities of a too slow and insufficient response in the search for survivors.
Families are waiting for news from under the rubble
In the city of La Guaira, rescue teams from Venezuela and several foreign countries continue to search for possible survivors under the rubble of apartment buildings. Occasionally, the work comes to a halt when rescuers demand complete silence to listen in on potential victims calling for help from under the concrete slabs.
He is also among the waiting relatives Miguel Oscar Núñezwho is looking for his 34-year-old son Angela. “My son is still trapped under the rubble along with hundreds of others. We don’t know if he survived the earthquake, but I fear he could have died because of the late response of the authorities,” he said.
Similar to me Kevin Montillawhose wife and 16-year-old daughter were at home when the building collapsed. “In the first hours, we mainly helped the residents themselves. The police came to the scene, but did not participate in the rescue. Organized help came much too late,” he said. According to locals, the first major rescue operations in some locations were established only two days after the earthquake.
Some areas remain without assistance
While rescue teams have focused on the larger and more accessible collapsed structures, many residents claim that in some parts of La Guaire, aid it still hasn’t reached all affected areas.
Deilisbeth Herreira he has been looking for his daughters, aged 12 and 13, for several days. At the time of the earthquake, she was at work, but the girls apparently stayed at home. “No one came. We have neither machines nor rescuers. It feels like we are left to fend for ourselves,” she said while reviewing the lists of the injured and dead in the hospital.
Although Venezuelan teams and aid from several other countries are participating in the rescue operations, many residents believe that the first crucial hours after the earthquake have been lost. PHOTO: Federico Parra/AFP
Even in the Bello Horizonte housing complex, residents were removing rubble with shovels, crowbars and their bare hands in the first hour after the disaster. Sixty years old Juan Avendo describes hearing calls for help from under the rubble. “We bathed with our neighbors with our bare hands. We managed to save one woman after first giving her water through the opening.”
According to him, many bodies are still lying under the ruins.
Among the victims were also recently deported from the USA
Particular attention is drawn to the fate of a group of 146 Venezuelans who were deported from the United States on the same day, reports Guardian. According to ICE Flight Monitor, the plane from Miami arrived in Venezuela just a few hours before the earthquakes. There were 146 deported persons on board, including 19 women and seven children.
Upon arrival, the Venezuelan authorities lodged them at the Santuario La Llanada hotel in La Guaira, where they were supposed to undergo medical examinations and administrative procedures, before going home the next day. When the first earthquake shook the building, many were still in their rooms.
Lisbeth Portilloone of the survivors, said she was in the room with 16 other women. “I felt a tremor. The women around me started to fall and scream for help. Then another, stronger earthquake followed.” According to her, she was buried by part of the structure, but due to the shifting of the rubble, she managed to climb to the surface.
Together with about twenty other survivors, they walked about five kilometers to the National Guard facility, where they were able to contact their families for the first time. “I feel like I’ve been reborn,” she said.
Many deportees still missing
The fate of many other passengers from the same deportation flight remains unknown. Jenny Rodriguez is for an American television network Telemundo said she was trapped under the rubble until a man who was also on the deportation flight spotted her. “I managed to get my hand out from under the rubble, grab him by the pants and ask him for help. I survived because of him.”
Liliana Rojas meanwhile, she is still searching for her partner, who was detained in an immigration detention center in El Paso, Texas, before being deported. According to her, the American authorities only confirmed to her that he was deported, but she did not receive any additional information about his fate.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has not yet publicly responded to media inquiries about the status of deportees following the disaster.
Rescue operations are continuing in some areas, but many relatives of the missing warn that the chances of survival are diminishing with each passing day. PHOTO: Miguel Medina/AFP
Criticism for slow response
Although Venezuelan teams and aid from several other countries are participating in the rescue operations, many residents believe that the first crucial hours after the earthquake have been lost, reports Al Jazeera.
According to them, it was neighbors and volunteers who did most of the work in the initial phase of the search for survivors, while official services arrived at many locations only ten hours later.
The authorities did not directly comment on the allegations. Rescue operations are continuing in some areas, but many relatives of the missing warn that the chances of survival are diminishing with each passing day. The extent of the disaster therefore remains unknown, as many of the collapsed buildings have not yet been fully inspected, and the final number of victims will probably be determined only after all search and identification procedures have been completed.
