'We Are Left Alone': Fury Erupts Over Venezuela Earthquake Response

'We Are Left Alone': Fury Erupts Over Venezuela Earthquake Response

Anger is mounting across Venezuela as grieving families accuse the government of abandoning earthquake victims, claiming precious days were lost before meaningful rescue efforts began following the country's deadliest natural disaster in modern history.

The twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela last week have killed at least 1,700 people, with entire apartment blocks collapsing in the coastal state of La Guaira. While officials describe it as the nation's worst-ever natural catastrophe, survivors say the tragedy was made even worse by what they call a painfully slow government response.

Families Wait In Agony

Outside the ruins of a 12-storey apartment building, rescue workers repeatedly call for silence before listening for signs of life beneath the shattered concrete.

Among those waiting is Miguel Oscar Nunez, whose 34-year-old son Angel remains trapped beneath the rubble.

"My son may have survived the earthquake," he said. "But if he dies because help came too late, that will be the government's responsibility."

Nearby, Kevin Montilla is desperately searching for his wife and teenage daughter, who were inside the building when it collapsed.

He says local residents began digging almost immediately while official help was nowhere to be seen.

"The community did everything it could," he said. "The authorities came to look, but they didn't rescue anyone."

'We Have Been Left On Our Own'

Across La Guaira, similar stories are emerging.

Single mother Deilisbeth Herreira continues searching hospitals and collapsed buildings for her two daughters, aged 12 and 13.

She says no rescue crews have reached the area where her home once stood.

"I have no help from anyone," she said through tears. "It feels like we've simply been abandoned."

Residents at the devastated Bello Horizonte housing complex described using little more than shovels, crowbars and even their bare hands to search for neighbours trapped beneath the ruins.

William Rodrigues, who is searching for his missing uncle, said volunteers continued working despite the overwhelming smell of death.

"We cannot just stop while there is still a chance someone is alive," he said.

Rescuers Arrived Days Later

Locals say the first official Venezuelan rescue teams did not arrive until nearly two days after the earthquakes struck.

By then, many believe countless lives had already been lost.

Juan Avendo, whose own home was destroyed, recalled hearing desperate cries from beneath the rubble during the first night.

"We dug with our hands because there was nobody else," he said.

Together with relatives, he managed to pull one woman alive from the debris after first passing her a bottle of water through a narrow gap.

International teams from Colombia, El Salvador and the United States later joined rescue operations, but families insist the assistance came far too late.

Questions That May Never Be Answered

President Delcy Rodríguez has described the earthquakes as the most devastating natural disaster in Venezuelan history.

But for many survivors, attention has already turned from the disaster itself to what they see as catastrophic failures in the government's emergency response.

With rescue operations now largely ended, hundreds of people are still believed to be buried beneath collapsed buildings.

Many families fear they will never recover the bodies of their loved ones, leaving the true scale of Venezuela's earthquake tragedy buried forever beneath the rubble

SOURCE