Venezuela Earthquake Killed Over 6,300 With La Guaira Hardest Hit
The Venezuela earthquake of 24 June killed more than 6,300 people, with the hardest hit area being La Guaira where multiple apartment buildings collapsed. Twin quakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck 39 seconds apart along Venezuela's Caribbean coastline. [1] One 12-storey apartment building in La Guaira was reduced to rubble, trapping Yusmani Delfín, her mother Carmen and 10-year-old son Moissés. [1]
Twin Quakes Devastate La Guaira
The two quakes struck 39 seconds apart along Venezuela's Caribbean coastline. [1] They reduced a 12-storey apartment building in La Guaira to rubble. [1] The earthquakes killed more than 6,300 people according to the Venezuelan government. [1] La Guaira, built on soft loose soil, was hard hit. [5] Both of Venezuela’s June earthquakes occurred along a separate fault. [5] The second was larger, leading the US Geological Survey to classify the initial 7.2 quake as a foreshock. [5] The events were strike-slip earthquakes set off by horizontal movements of Earth’s crust. [5] Venezuela’s coastal area of La Guaira was among the areas hardest hit. [5]
Family's Desperate Search Through Rubble
Collapsed 12-storey apartment building lies in rubble after twin earthquakes in La Guaira Venezuela. — Source: dawn
Brothers Winder, 17, and Deivi, 15, participated in rescue efforts for nearly a month. [1] They crawled through narrow spaces in the rubble to locate family belongings and bodies. [1] Winder was the first to recognise his mother's body by a plastic bag still on her head. [1] They unearthed fragments of their family life including Moissés's shorts, Yusmani's Bible and an unfinished shopping list. [1] The following day Deivi spotted fabric recognised as his grandmother's floral skirt. [1] Firefighters confirmed they had found a woman's body. [1] They found Moissés still holding onto his mother. [1] At the sight of his son Deivid collapsed. [1] The brothers joined rescue efforts but for three days had nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat. [1]
Survivors Face Second Earthquake in Colombia
The Delfín family was laid to rest and the brothers moved to their father's home in Cali, Colombia. [1] Three days later they experienced Colombia's strongest earthquake this century, a magnitude 7.4 event on 10 August. [1] The shaking was also felt in parts of Venezuela. [2] Deivi was asleep when the tremor began and thought he was dreaming when the movement was gentle. [1] When it intensified he got out of bed and ran downstairs. [1] His brother did the same. [1] Outside they grabbed hold of a metal gate and waited for the shaking to stop. [1] Their father had been out on the street and ran back to the house. [1] A neighbour told him she had seen them leave. [1] His sons tried to reassure him saying they had been through this before. [1] The US Geological Survey estimated the magnitude of the 10 August quake at 7.4 striking at a depth of about 96 km. [2]
Migrants Mourn Remotely by Video Call
Venezuelan migrants abroad such as Liz Marrero in Los Angeles and Crismar Chacín learned of family deaths via video calls. [3] Liz was shown her sister’s corpse’s hands over video so she could identify them. [3] She wanted to see her sister’s whole body which was found under her husband. [3] Her nephews survived with Sebastián 16 at Macuto beach and Samuel 11 trapped but rescued by a tourist. [3] Samuel now has four fractures and facial paralysis. [3] Liz organized a GoFundMe campaign to support their future as professional baseball players. [3] Crismar Chacín’s 19-year-old brother Cristian died inside one of the buildings that collapsed in Los Corales. [3] Rescuers reached the building the next day and identified Cristian by his tattoo. [3] They had to pour lime on the body to preserve it. [3] Crismar faces a long wait for legal status in the United States which prevents her from leaving the country. [3] Liz is waiting for permanent residency and cannot leave the country until it is resolved. [3]
Political Agreement on Recovery Funds
Political talks between Venezuela's interim government and opposition produced agreement to seek release of frozen international reserves at the Bank of England to aid earthquake recovery. [4] Both sides committed to initiate a process that contributes to the transformation of the justice system including reforms to the Organic Law of Venezuela's top court the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. [4] The joint statement also called for the establishment of mechanisms for transparency traceability and auditing to make sure the funds are properly used. [4] Interim president Delcy Rodriguez's government was represented at the talks by her brother Jorge Rodriguez. [4] The opposition was represented by Dinorah Figuera leader of the political bloc that won a majority in the 2015 National Assembly. [4]
Why These Quakes Proved So Deadly
Colombia and Venezuela sit on the boundaries of several moving tectonic plates. [5] The depth of the epicenter in Colombia’s quake sent tremors as far as Panama but gave energy more room to dissipate. [5] An earthquake’s magnitude is measured by a logarithmic scale. [5] Colombia’s strongest earthquake one of magnitude 8.8 that struck some 50 km off the northern Ecuadorean coast in 1906 released 126 times more energy than Colombia’s latest quake. [5] Informal housing or poor investment in engineering can be devastating when quakes hit densely-populated cities. [5] Colombia began designing earthquake-resistant construction in the 1970s and adopted its first building code in 1984. [5] Its current code was established in 2010. [5] Another key factor is soft terrain. [5] Venezuela’s coastal area of La Guaira built on soft loose soil was hard hit in June. [5]
What to watch next: Talks continue on judicial reforms and access to frozen assets at the Bank of England with mechanisms for transparency and auditing to support recovery from the June earthquakes.
