Venezuela earthquake: fatal back-to-back earthquakes in Caracas
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What happened during the recent earthquakes in Venezuela?
This morning, powerful twin earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude have killed dozens of people and injured hundreds more in Venezuela. Massive shocks collapsed entire buildings and sent people running in panic. Rescue workers and residents were seen clambering on piles of rubble in the hunt for survivors. Correspondent for BBC Mundo, Vanessa Silva, reported from Caracas in the immediate aftermath of the quake describing recovery efforts.
At this moment, I'm in the north of the city, in the neighborhood of San Bernardino. Here, one building collapses, a building of about five flats. We can see many corps of security working, removing the... part of the structure that fell down in this building looking for survivors. And we are trying to confirm if one person died here in this neighborhood. We are starting to see the consequence of the earthquake that hit Caracas and Venezuela.
The disaster prompted Venezuela's interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, to declare a state of emergency. In a moment, we'll hear more about how equipped she is to grapple with the fallout. But first, shortly before coming on air, I spoke to journalist and filmmaker Camille Rodriguez-Montilla. She's in one of the worst affected areas, Altamira. I began by asking her if she could describe what she was seeing around her.
Yes, I can. So right now there are dozens of people camping out here in Altamira Square. They are too afraid to go back into the buildings where they live. So some of them are sleeping on the floor. Some of them have tents out here and plastic chairs.
How are rescue efforts unfolding in the aftermath?
They basically got with them whatever they could hold in their hands when they left their apartments.
And is there much damage to buildings?
At least four buildings have collapsed in this area. We still don't know how many people have deceased and how many people are injured in this area. Some of the buildings were very old, from the 50s and 60s. And in other areas of Caracas, such as central Caracas, and well, this is the eastern part of the city, I've seen at least six buildings collapsed.
Now, this hit, there were two earthquakes in quick succession, one of 7.2 magnitude, the second of 7.5 a couple of minutes later. Can you just tell us where you were when this happened and what you felt?
Yes. So there's a big celebration, a big celebration. cultural and religious celebration here in Venezuela today. It's the day of San Juan. So I was actually in a place called San Agustin where, um, there was a party going out on the street and I was just recording everything, um, partly for fun and partly because I do that every year. And we just felt how the, the earth started moving. And, um, Well, everyone thought it was something different. No one actually reacted very fast to it. And then just I think in that moment, people didn't realize the magnitude of the earthquake. And straight after that, I just came to this area because I realized that this would probably be one of the most affected areas.
And it has been the case, sadly.
Are earthquakes common in Venezuela?
Not really, actually. This is probably, if I'm not mistaken, this is the strongest earthquake since 1967. My dad has a lot of stories of that. He was in college and, well, he slept on the street for like a week because his family was too scared to go inside the building. And since then, we had not seen something like this.
Now, there were reports that the power was off for obvious reasons. The metro is closed. I mean, obviously, stuff like that is going to hamper the rescue efforts.
Indeed. Actually, something that really, really moved me was how everyone and anyone was trying to help. People were volunteering to move rubble away from the buildings to participate in rescue operations. Store owners here in Altamira were taking the water that they had in their shops and even sodas and handing it out to policemen and just... random people on the street just helping everyone they could. And yeah, there's no transportation. Power seems to be working fine in most areas here. But yeah, there are definitely going to be some water shortages, I expect, because most of the water service has been canceled in some areas of the city.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What happened during the recent earthquakes in Venezuela?
0:00–1:50
2
How are rescue efforts unfolding in the aftermath?
1:50–5:19
3
What are the immediate impacts on the people of Caracas?
5:19–8:31
4
How prepared is Venezuela for such disasters?
8:31–13:01
5
What challenges does the interim leader face in response to the earthquake?
13:01–16:44
6
What role does international aid play in disaster recovery?
16:44–20:36