Venezuelans rushed outside. Some fled for their lives. But others ran to help, impromptu bands of volunteers heading into earthquake-devastated neighborhoods.
Some, among them retired firefighters, nurses and paramedics, and professional and amateur rescue workers, had important skills to offer. Others were just ordinary citizens: students, engineers, even surfers.
All descended on La Guaira, a coastal city ravaged by the strongest quakes to hit Venezuela in a century. With so many buried under rubble, there was still hope that lives could be saved. In the end, nearly 5,100 people were killed, perhaps many more.
Many volunteers knew, almost instinctively, that after decades of corruption and mismanagement in Venezuela, they would mostly have to fend for themselves. And they did.
It was more than mere necessity that drove them to the unending mountains of rubble, often to dig with their bare hands.
Here is what moved them, in their own words.
My heart told me, ‘Let’s go to La Guaira.’ I grabbed my motorcycle along with another companion, two motorcycles, and we came to La Guaira.”
Alexander Padulo, 29
A part of a volunteer-based search-and-rescue group in Venezuela
We made a WhatsApp group, collected clothes, bought water, some mattresses, and went down.”
José Campos, 27
Bodily therapist and volunteer
I immediately went to the nearest fire station because I know there is a shortage of personnel right now.”
Jhony Vargas, 42
Retired firefighter
It’s the moment to put into practice everything they once told you in the classroom.”
Oreanna Añangure, 28
Rescuer for a government-affiliated brigade of paramedics
It was the frustration and helplessness of not having the tools right from the start that led us to build networks of solidarity.”
Alejandro Padrón, 35
Volunteer
Little, not even years of training, could prepare them for the chaos they would witness.
Rows of seaside towers had been reduced to hulking piles of concrete.
Rescuers — from civilians to seasoned international crews — asked themselves the same daunting question:
Where to begin?
Once we entered the scene, it was like something out of ‘The Walking Dead.’ But they weren’t zombies — they were people covered in dirt. Some were crawling; others were being carried by those around them.”
Wilbani León, 35
Director of a government-affiliated brigade of paramedics
Your 15-story buildings were reduced to three stories. And it’s terrible, because people were crushed.”
José Luis Núñez, 65
Co-founder of a volunteer-based search-and-rescue group in Venezuela
We saw many bodies in the streets. The police didn’t know what to do, the firefighters didn’t know what to do. They didn’t have the tools.”
Daniel Mérida, 50
Paramedic who went to La Guaira to seek for family members
It was total darkness. Every 50 meters, you would see, I don’t know, 30 or 40 people asking you for help at the same time — some injured, some asking you to help a family member who was under the rubble.”
Mr. Padulo
Volunteer rescuer
One of the volunteers saved more than 50 people and pulled out both the living and the dead. And he wasn’t wearing gloves, a shirt — nothing to protect himself.”
Hernán Sandoval, 26
A resident who appeared for
his 8-year-old son within the rubble
Rescuers became the faces of hope.
International crews worked with surgical precision, searching for signs of life with trained dogs and slicing through thick slabs of concrete with specialized equipment.
The Venezuelan authorities deployed thousands of soldiers and hundreds of emergency workers. But heavy machinery was sorely missing after years of authoritarian rule that hollowed out institutions needed in such disasters.
As the desperate nation and at times the world looked on, rescues, some lasting days, were hailed as small miracles.
We started like when you are peeling an onion, layer by layer, removing pieces to reach a person.”
Mr. Núñez
Volunteer rescuer
My nephew tells me, ‘Look uncle, there is a person’s arm.’ So we started to remove stone after stone. I told her: ‘We don’t have the equipment, but we are going to help you. You are alive.’”
Mr. Mérida
Paramedic
We pulled out a female alive. She was 28 years old. And that same day we pulled out an entire family. The three siblings and the mother. They were alive.”
Ms. Añangure
Paramedic
We went days with nothing, doing the work ourselves — swinging pickaxes and shovels.”
Mr. Sandoval
Resident
Some 300 volunteers are the ones who bring the cables, fuel, and moving machinery. Those volunteers are Venezuelan civilians.”
Francisco Lermanda, 54
Chief of “Topos Chile,” an unbiased
Chilean rescue brigade
We saw one of the children whom we thought had died. We saw each other, hugged, and he started crying.”
Luis Carlos Pimienta Aparicio, 43
Browsing teacher and volunteer rescue employee
Amid the despair were moments of joy.
The rescue of a 12-year-old girl, one of the first to be captured on video that spread across the globe, galvanized people in La Guaira to continue digging.
The girl, Fabiana Blanco, said she had subsisted on cheese and ketchup she scavenged from the ruins of her kitchen, while she was trapped for 32 hours.
Her desperate mother, Karina, had been searching for her in the debris that was once their home.
“I ran from one side to the other and I yelled for her, ‘Fabi, daughter, please,’” she said.
At 11:00 at night, a nurse on the 2nd floor came out and said that my daughter was alive.”
Karina Blanco, 51
Fabiana’s mom
We told the lady, ‘Look, we are going to do everything possible to get her out, but I have to ask for a miracle because there is tons of debris on top of her.”
Mr. Núñez
Volunteer rescuer
They kept at it with the chisel, but all of this was hours of anguish. There was no electricity, flashlights were scarce, tools were nowhere to be found.”
Ms. Blanco
Fabiana’s mom
The mother kept telling us, ‘I want her alive or dead, but I want my daughter’s body.’”
Mr. Núñez
Volunteer rescuer
You don’t know how many times I prayed in there and had hope and faith that they were going to get me out.”
Fabiana Blanco, 12
Rescued resident of La Guaira
She would stick her little hand through that small hole and help us remove the stones.”
Mr. Padulo
Volunteer rescuer
It was a joy for everyone.”
Mr. Núñez
Volunteer rescuer
Stories like Fabiana’s inspired rescuers to keep going, but their task was bleak.
A rescue team from Curaçao arrived four days after the earthquakes, but would leave without rescuing a single soul.
A Mexican brigade would pull out only two people alive.
The lives saved were outnumbered by the bodies recovered.
We have family members sitting there just waiting for us to take out the body of a person who we already know has no life. I feel like no career taught us this.”
Dayana Krays, 35
Volunteer rescuer
I helped a father pull his two daughters out. We got them out alive. Both girls died on the way to the hospital. The guy called me, completely devastated. He told me: ‘Brother, thank you for your support. I hope you find your son.’”
Mr. Sandoval
Resident
The only three survivors we rescued were the day after the earthquake.”
Samuel Borges, 26
Pupil and volunteer
When exhaustion and despair overtook them, they found the energy to carry on, lifted by the hope of saving, just maybe, one more life.
Many of us woke up perched on top of buildings, pulling people out, and the sun was dehydrating us.”
Mr. León
Paramedic director
We lost on the order of three to four kilos a day.”
Mr. Lermanda
Chilean rescuer
We are on autopilot, but it’s now or never. We sleep for half an hour, about 20 minutes. We talk to psychologists and go back.”
Ms. Krays
Volunteer rescuer
I knew that I had to support the families who were alone without knowing what to do. I told my retired firefighter friends that we needed to be there always.”
Mr. Vargas
Retired firefighter
There are always people who join us, come for a day, and then don’t come back because what they saw was so horrible.”
Samuel Hernández, 34
Mechanical engineer and volunteer
We’ve taken in so much. Many of us are here; our children are at home. We haven’t seen them since the earthquake. We have no plans to leave.”
Mr. León
Paramedic director
The weeks of agony were punctuated by moments of relief.
A hug and whispered “gracias” to a tired rescue worker resting on a sidewalk.
A highway clogged by motorcycles and pickup trucks rushing to help.
An impromptu birthday party thrown by rescue workers for a 6-year-old girl who had been left homeless.
People refusing to break.
There are two girls who lost everything and joined our team. I told them, “I’m going to put uniforms on you because you are our angels here!”
Ms. Añangure
Paramedic
We started posting on our social media where we were and what we needed. Our followers began arriving with tools and food.”
Mr. León
Paramedic director
Several people who have been working for days came from other states. They have absolutely nothing to do with this, and they are here working day and night.”
Ricardo Fernández, 55
Rescue employee from Curaçao
There were many military personnel who had families there and twice they went in with their hands to see what they could do.”
Mr. Vargas
Retired firefighter
We have felt the love and solidarity of the diaspora more deeply. They have been part of these rescues.”
Mr. Padrón
Volunteer
We are awestruck and grateful. Immensely grateful that every half-hour someone arrives with a little arepa, with a little sweet, and with a ‘keep going.’”
Octavio Restrepo, 46
Rescue employee from Curaçao
