As the hours pass, the death toll from the Venezuela earthquake grows, over 52 thousand while the death toll is approaching a thousand. Impossible to provide updated figures because the number changes negative second by second. Unfortunately, the number of injured is also rising. The “Desaparesidos earthquake Venezuela” platform is totally broken down, there is an increase in web pages to browse with faces of all ages who are under the rubble or who – hopefully – have found safety somewhere but due to a lack of internet they are unable to get in touch with their family members.
The rescue efforts are proceeding slowly because there are not enough vehicles and specialized human resources who know how to use them. They are looking everywhere, but There are already many countries that have responded to the emergency coordination managed by the United Nations. In the next few hours, hospitals and field kitchens, rescuers, firefighters, doctors and healthcare personnel, tons of hygiene kits, medicines, food and drinking water will arrive.
“I would like to dedicate more time to it, but the road calls me,” says the general secretary of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV), bishop of Puerto Cabello José Antonio Da Conceição Ferreira. «I still have to visit many parishes, priests, people who need help. There is a lot of structural damage, there are buildings that have completely collapsed and people are without food and basic necessities. When I felt the tremors, I was on the street, it was terrible. As if the carpet you are walking on was suddenly pulled out from under your feet and thrown to the ground. There was the patronal feast the other evening and the people were all out walking, after the earthquakes the electricity went out and I headed home to my mother to see if she was okay. After making sure that everything was in order, I immediately set out to figure out what to do immediately. After a few days, I can say that where I live alone, in Puerto Cabello, there are at least one hundred families without food, the hospitals are collapsing”continues the bishop. Puerto Cabello is on the coast, in the state of Carabobo, one of the most affected along with the others in central Venezuela overlooking the Caribbean Sea, almost an hour away from Valencia, where the epicenter of one of the two earthquakes was.
«We have come to give some support and strength to the rescuers who are working, civil protection workers and volunteers, to pull people out of the rubble. We have come to bring a message of hope and above all of union”, says Monsignor Carlos Márquez, auxiliary bishop of Caracas, while he is on the street distributing aid, and adds: “We must remain united in faith, hope and charity. United to be able to help all those who need us. The Archdiocese of Caracas has activated three aid distribution centers in the affected municipalities, Chacao and La Tahona, and at the national headquarters of Caritas, in Montalbán”. From Puerto Cabello to Caracas, and from Caracas to La Guaira, the journey of the bishops among the rubble continues not only to visit the other bishops, religious and non-religious priests, but above all to understand how much the people need in the places affected by the seismic disaster.
La Guaira is one of the most devastated seaside cities, an hour from Caracas. The bishop of the diocese Monsignor Pablo Modesto is in front of the collapsed seminary of San Pedro Apóstol de La Guaira, founded in 1977: «We are shocked, saddened, thank God we are alive if we only think about everything that is happening around us. We are dismayed by what happened, the buildings collapsed and even our seminary was gutted by the earthquake. At this moment, however, I do not want to count the material damage, but to make a much more important appeal to the institutions so that they can network for solidarity”, he concludes. The Venezuelan Episcopal Conference has called a national day of prayer for June 28 for the victims, the injured, the families and the communities that have been affected by the damage of the two earthquakes.
