Miraculous Rescues Emerge Days After Venezuela Earthquakes

Karkas. A few days after two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela last Wednesday, some miraculous rescue incidents have been reported there on Sunday. 

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez informed that 33 people were pulled out alive from the rubble over the weekend. Among those rescued alive are two 11-year-old boys, who were rescued from separate collapsed buildings within hours of each other on Sunday. 

Although the crucial 72-hour period after the earthquake has passed, rescuers have not given up hope. They say that if there is access to food and water inside the rubble, people can still be found alive. However, with tens of thousands of people still missing, the hope of finding other survivors is weakening as time passes. 

According to rescue agencies, the initial 48 to 72 hours are considered crucial for finding survivors after a disaster. Relatives of the missing are forced to spend their fifth night waiting for news of their loved ones. 

Hundreds of buildings collapsed due to two earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 that struck within 39 seconds of each other last Wednesday, and many people are trapped inside the rubble. Officials have confirmed at least 1,450 deaths so far. Families desperate to save their loved ones are themselves trying to clear the rubble by hand. Some locals told the BBC that they can hear voices from the rubble but are forced to wait for heavy machinery to arrive as they cannot move the heavy concrete slabs.  

Interim President Rodriguez has shared videos of the weekend's rescues along with positive messages on social media. Rescuers have released a video of an 11-year-old boy named 'Moises' being pulled out of the rubble, with his eyes covered from the sunlight. According to Colombia's National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, Moises was buried in rubble about 3 meters deep, and the rescue team had to work very carefully for 6 hours on Saturday to pull him out. 

According to Reuters, a rescuer said on a walkie-talkie that the boy was found near his deceased mother and sister. A few hours later, Rodriguez posted another video on X claiming that another 11-year-old boy was also rescued alive in the city of Caraballeda. She wrote, 'At this hour, every life is a hope for Venezuela.' According to AFP news agency, in the city of Caraballeda, French and American teams also pulled a father and his teenage son alive from the rubble on Sunday. 

According to officials, the coastal area of La Guaira, where the city of Caraballeda is located, has been the most affected by the earthquake. Aftershocks continue to hamper rescue efforts, further terrifying local residents. 64-year-old bus driver Jesus Enduiza told BBC Mundo, 'Honestly, it creates a lot of fear. Even a small sound feels terrible.' 

In some areas, anger and frustration are also growing over the government's slow and ineffective rescue efforts. In highly affected areas like Caribe and Tanaguarena, rubble removal has not even begun. According to a local, the government is hindering rescue efforts by banning access to affected areas and closing roads. 

Thousands of people are now staying in their cars fearing buildings will collapse, while some have set up camps in open spaces like airports and golf courses. The golf course in Caraballeda has become the main center for emergency rescue operations. This once green and clean golf course has now been transformed into a temporary hospital and relief distribution center, where citizens who have lost everything are looking for their needs in donated clothes and humanitarian aid boxes. 

A landing site for helicopters has been set up next to a small lake on another part of the golf course, where relief materials and emergency rescuers from home and abroad are being transported. The roads around the golf course are cracked and covered with rubble. The desolate and dusty environment there is broken only by the sounds of heavy machinery and the cries of those searching for their loved ones in the rubble.