Amparo del Giudice has been digging through a massive pile of concrete with her bare hands, searching for her son trapped beneath the ruins of a collapsed building in Venezuela’s earthquake-devastated coastal city of La Guaira.
Twin earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude struck Venezuela’s northern coast on Wednesday evening, in what is the strongest seismic event to hit the country since 1900. La Guaira was among the worst-affected areas, as it was for countless families, del Giudice’s family was struck by a devastating tragedy.
AFP reporting from La Guaira said the death toll had reached 235 by Thursday night, with around 4,300 people injured.
Frustrated that government rescuers had not arrived, del Giudice stood near where she believed her son was trapped and said: “There are so many rocks here. It’s impossible to move them with bare hands.”
Her 23-year-old grandson Alessandro put on a volunteer firefighter’s helmet and joined the rescue effort to search for his missing father. Standing before the ruins of a multi-storey building, he said through tears: “He is in there.”
La Guaira, a city of around 25,000 people, was once a popular Caribbean seaside destination for residents of the capital Caracas. Many of the tall residential buildings with swimming pools that lined the waterfront have been severely damaged. Two five-star hotels were completely destroyed. Rescue teams and volunteers climbed the rubble of buildings that once stood up to 15 storeys tall, calling out the names of missing people.
Continuing aftershocks caused already-damaged buildings to shudder loudly with each tremor.
Acting President Delcy Rodriguez visited the area on Thursday and declared it a disaster zone. AFP journalists on the ground also witnessed looting amid the ruins.
The coastal highway was broken in multiple sections. Buildings across the waterfront were left uninhabitable, and many had collapsed entirely.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report