BBC meets Venezuela earthquake survivors
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
I'm Nick Miles, and in the early hours of Monday 29th June, these are our main stories. The survivors who have lost everything in Venezuela's earthquakes criticise the government's response. Turkey lashes out at Israel's government for recognising the massacre of Armenians more than a century ago as genocide. Eleven skydivers are killed in a crash, the deadliest private plane accident in France's history. Also in this podcast...
Oh, amazing. That was awesome. What a shot. We're going to take down whoever's in front of us. Let's go, Canada. Incredible.
We're going to win the next one, too. It's going to be great. A World Cup host is first into the last 16. And we find out what Mexico's motorbike vigilante is doing with lots of adhesive tape. Rescue workers in Venezuela are still in the critical stage where people can be found alive after last week's earthquakes. But as more international teams arrive in the worst-hit areas to help, they know time is running out for the tens of thousands of people who are still unaccounted for. There have been rare moments of hope, though. What you're hearing there are rescuers pulling a man and his teenage son alive from the rubble on Sunday. But there's also growing frustration among some Venezuelans about the way the authorities are handling the rescue operation.
On top of everything, the government decided to close the streets, making it harder to bring help. Yesterday we waited from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. to get a permission to come here. We wasted hours.
Listen to me. I don't like to make comments that I know might have consequences later.
I survived and I am still here, all by the will of God. But I am surprised that our governor hasn't shown his face around here.
Meanwhile, thousands of Venezuelans suddenly left homeless, are sleeping in tents, parks and other makeshift shelters. Entire neighbourhoods have been flattened. Our correspondent Will Grant has been speaking to some residents who say they're too afraid to return to damaged buildings that could be unsafe. The destruction along Venezuela's northern coastline has been so severe that tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of families have been left homeless. Here in this small town of Catia Lamar, a lot of the families have come to the local baseball stadium. It is at least outdoors, so they're protected from any aftershocks, but they're not protected from the elements. They've had to make shelters out of cheap nylon tents, out of structures made from
blankets and sheets and pieces of wood and tarpaulin. They're dependent on donated food, donated clothing. It is a very, very bleak picture. I've been speaking to residents, some of whom were living in social housing up on the hillside that has completely collapsed. Not only did it collapse, there were fires after gas explosions following the earthquake. The families here simply don't know how long they're going to be in these sorts of conditions. One man said to me he thinks it could be as many as three or four years. He's hopeful, of course, that the authorities will find some kind of temporary accommodation during that time before they can rebuild not just this city, but the entire state. La Guaida, this state, is now completely militarised.
There are some 14,000 troops here. And you can see that the need is extreme. Some streets, there are more buildings collapsed than there are still standing. The complaint of some people is that the military who are here aren't pitching in sufficiently with the search and rescue teams, that they're more directing traffic than anything else. We've been past one business where the neighbours, the residents, are doing all of the work, trying to reach the bodies that are still inside the building to pull them out and give them dignified funerals. It is an extremely tough and dire situation, not just here in Catia-la-Mar, but all along this coastline. Will Grant. The term genocide has a very specific and chilling definition in international criminal law.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–10:33
2
How are survivors describing the rescue response after Venezuela’s earthquakes?
10:33–18:31
3
What are living conditions for displaced families in Catia La Mar and nearby towns?
18:31–30:07
4
Why has Israel’s recognition of the Armenian killings sparked a furious reaction from Turkey?
30:07–31:22
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Global News Podcast
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