Massive search and rescue efforts are underway in Venezuela, where emergency crews are racing to find survivors trapped beneath the rubble more than a day after devastating earthquakes killed more than 900 people and injured more than 3,000 others.
The tragedy is also being felt here in the D.C. area, where many Venezuelans are anxiously waiting for word from loved ones back home and, in some cases, are mourning the loss of family members.
Carmelo Antonio says he hasn’t heard from his father in nearly 48 hours. He’s still holding on to hope, saying any moment now, his father will call.
Venezuelans who live in the D.C. area have been following the aftermath on their phones. On Thursday, Nazaret Ospino received the message that her cousin was killed.
She says she wishes she could be there, clearing rubble and helping, because she feels the pain and the tears being shed in Venezuela.
The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes struck west of the capital, Caracas, less than a minute apart on Wednesday. Buildings crumbled in seconds, hundreds of lives were lost, and the heartbreaking reality is that, as the days go on, the true extent of the devastation will only become clearer.
Some help is on the way. A donation center has been set up at Arepa Zone, a restaurant in downtown D.C. where different donations and supplies are being gathered, including clothing, medicine, diapers, baby formula and water. The owners of the restaurant said they feel compelled to help their home country during such a difficult time.
“Those of us that are abroad, we have, like, this need to feel like we’re doing something,” one owner, Gabriela Febres, said. “So, for me, as as a business owner with a Venezuelan restaurant, I think that part was easy because immediately when the news came out, the community started reaching out, like, ‘How can we help?’”
The restaurant is collecting donations until Sunday at its locations in downtown D.C.; College Park, Maryland, and Fairfax, Virginia.
“For a country like ours, it just feels like it’s a million little paper cuts. I don’t know how we rebuild, but we’re doing what we can,” Febres said.
Help in another capacity also is on its way. The Virginia Task Force 1 search and rescue team is en route to Venezuela.
“We’ll go then and find these victims, tunnel in to get them, and then remove them and bring them to definitive care,” John Morrison with Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue said.
As the search for survivors continues, so does the long road to recovery: a journey that’s only just beginning for families in Venezuela and their loved ones here.
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