Several Portuguese and Portuguese-Venezuelans who are in the state of La Guaira, the region most affected by the two earthquakes that shook Venezuela on Wednesday, managed to tell their family by telephone that they are fine.
“There was no electricity, no cell phone signal, we were practically isolated and so it was not possible to tell our family that we were fine, which we already did a little while ago”, explained a Portuguese-Venezuelan man to Lusa.
Pedro Abelardo Ferreira, 30 years old, explained that he lives in Maiquetía, where there is “a street that has become unrecognizable” due to the collapse of several buildings.
Despite having already managed to charge his cell phone battery and have contacted his family, he explained that he is worried because earthquake aftershocks are constant, although of reduced intensity.
“The earth is frequently shaking, we have already felt many dozens of aftershocks, which arrive accompanied by a strong noise from the center of the earth, which causes anxiety and sometimes people scream”, he explained.
Abelardo Ferreira also said that local authorities are providing a free wireless Internet connection in a stadium for anyone who needs to contact family members.
Uncontactable for almost 24 hours, Portuguese radio host Diogo José Freitas, responsible for the radio program “Portugal em Tropical” explained to Lusa that he was fine, accompanied by family members and that there are areas of that state that were very damaged.
“The apartment was destroyed, the building resisted the earthquakes but the apartment did not. In addition to the columns, the building has brick walls that fell. Today I went up to the apartment to try to save clothes, mainly, but I could hardly remove anything because it is full of rubble”, said Freitas.
The radio presenter also explained that the towns of Cátia La Mar, Avenidas do Império and Atlântico, where the radio station Sonera 1450 was located, where he worked for years, were all destroyed. The areas of El Caribe and Tanaguarenas, Los Corales, were also heavily damaged.
Several Portuguese people said that there is practically no presence of rescue teams in some areas of La Guaira and that there is a lack of machinery in the race against time to save lives.
Meanwhile, residents in La Guaira took to social media to complain about the lack of military personnel on the ground to help survivors and rescue people, comparing it to the quick response to quell protests.
Lusa
