FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Over 160 victims from two powerful earthquakes. Survivors recount moments of horror, while family members anxiously await news about trapped relatives.
Pain, anxiety and uncertainty are dominating Venezuela after two powerful earthquakes struck the country on Wednesday evening, leaving at least 160 dead and hundreds injured. As rescue teams continue to search through the rubble, survivors' testimonies tell of hours of terror and despair.
In Catia La Mar, one of the hardest-hit areas, Larry Rojas, 49, stood in front of a collapsed building where his relatives are suspected to be.
"Right now we have nothing, neither the strength nor the courage to go in there," he told AFP, as he waited in the hope that rescue teams would find survivors.
A few meters away, a mother could not hold back her tears. Her daughter was trapped under the rubble of a 12-story building.
"There are people alive there and no one is coming to save them ," she said, calling for immediate intervention.
Residents of Caracas also experienced frightening moments. Verónica, who was at home with her mother celebrating a national holiday when the earthquake struck, said that for a few seconds she thought everything was over. "I thought I was going to die ," she confessed.
The drama didn't end with the tremors. Her sister, Valentina, spent hours without any information about the fate of her family members. Her phone kept receiving photos and videos of collapsed buildings in the neighborhood where her mother and sister lived, until she finally managed to contact Verónica and learned that both had survived.
In another area of the capital, Odalis Escalona, 54, described the damage her apartment suffered.
"The stairs came apart, the whole wall cracked. Things fell from the ceiling ," she said.
While Carmen Guedez, 69, said she had no way of leaving her apartment when the tremors started.
"We huddled together with my sister lying in bed and a neighbor. We couldn't get out," she confessed.
Authorities say search and rescue operations are continuing without interruption, with voices still being heard in some areas of people trapped under rubble. The streets of Caracas are covered in debris, power and internet outages are hampering operations, and thousands of residents have been left homeless.
Two earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5, struck Venezuela just seconds apart at around 6:00 p.m. local time. According to seismological data, the second tremor was the strongest to hit the country since 1900. Authorities warn that the death toll could rise as they have not yet completed the inspection of all affected areas.
Lini një Përgjigje