Searching for earthquake survivors in Venezuela
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is The Guardian.
Today, on the ground in Venezuela after disaster.
What happened during the earthquakes in Venezuela?
So the earthquakes, two of them within the space of 39 seconds, struck at just after 6 p.m. on Wednesday the 24th of June, which is a bank holiday here in Venezuela. Many people were at home. Some people were watching the Brazil-Scotland World Cup game. And they would have had, particularly in La Guaida, where the buildings went down so fast, absolutely no chance to respond, to get out. There is a video that fishermen who were in the water took looking back at the region. And these buildings came down in seconds.
Tom Phillips was in Caracas just a month ago.
How are Venezuelans coping with the aftermath of the earthquake?
As The Guardian's Latin America correspondent, he's reported from Venezuela through high-stakes political drama, through economic disaster, and through one of the world's biggest displacement crises that has forced 8 million Venezuelans out of the country. But the scenes following two enormous earthquakes, the worst in a century, have been beyond devastating.
Many of those families, they are now camped outside these broken buildings. They've been sleeping rough, waiting for rescue teams to arrive, waiting for heavy machinery to arrive, waiting for someone to do something. I mean, they've been taking matters into their own hands. They've been grabbing spades and pickaxes and getting into the rubble themselves to search.
A disaster met with political incompetence in a country still reeling from the dramatic capture of President Maduro by US forces and the installation of his wildly unpopular successor, Delcy Rodriguez.
I met one family yesterday and they'd built a shack in a small shanty in the rubble and they'd used the rubble of the building that their daughter was in at the time of the earthquake to support their mattress that they are now sleeping on outside. And they have been there night after night after night and they are distraught and they are also furious. I mean, the father I spoke to whose daughter was inside
What are the personal stories of families affected by the earthquakes?
I asked him what he would say to Venezuela's acting president if she were sat there on the mattress beside him.
And his hands shook so violently with emotion.
as he spoke, and he said, I would tell her that this damned revolution has destroyed our country and has destroyed our lives.
Over 50,000 buildings have been destroyed and more than 2,500 people have been confirmed dead. Tens of thousands are still missing and unaccounted for. How will Venezuela recover? And can it rebuild? From The Guardian, I'm Nosheen Iqbal. Today in Focus, Venezuela after the earthquakes.
Tom Phillips, you're The Guardian's Latin America correspondent, and you've been in Venezuela, you've been in Caracas for the last few days, and you've been talking to the people there, no doubt traumatized by what they've been through. What have they been saying? What have they been telling you?
I mean, first of all, there is just the despair and the pain for families of the people who have died. And particularly for the people who have not yet been able to find their loved ones in the rubble. Many, many, many, many bodies are obviously still trapped in these huge buildings that came down. And it's just almost unimaginable that anyone could be alive inside. And yet... Miraculously, search teams still are finding signs of life and actual survivors all these days after. I think at this stage, unfortunately, those stories are the exception and not the rule. I mean, I was at a destroyed apartment building with a grandmother whose eight year old grandson was inside.
How is the government responding to the earthquake disaster?
And she's been camped out in a destroyed building basically ever since the earthquake, waiting for news, hoping that he's in there. He was playing at his cousin's house. So he was there with an eight-year-old and a 10-year-old cousin, three young kids who have not been found. and the British and the Brazilian and the Ecuadorian search teams detected signs of life. And they spent the whole day looking for these signs of life, and she was just so convinced that those were the kids. And she came up to me and she said,
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:18
2
What happened during the earthquakes in Venezuela?
0:18–1:04
3
How are Venezuelans coping with the aftermath of the earthquake?
1:04–2:36
4
What are the personal stories of families affected by the earthquakes?
2:36–4:47
5
How is the government responding to the earthquake disaster?
4:47–7:17
6
What role are volunteers playing in the rescue efforts?
7:17–9:00
7
How has the international community responded to the crisis?
9:00–11:05
8
What are the political implications of the earthquake for Venezuela?
11:05–23:57