Children arrive alone at hospitals after Venezuela earthquakes; families search for missing on injury lists

Yenderlin Cabarza, 13, arrived at a Caracas hospital with fractures, her mother and uncle dead after a devastating earthquake struck Venezuela. She is one of dozens of minors arriving alone at medical facilities as families desperately search for missing relatives.

Ambulances continuously arrive at the Domingo Luciani Hospital in eastern Caracas, where anxious individuals scrutinize long lists of injured individuals posted on walls. These handwritten lists include the names of 22 children and adolescents, aged 4 to 19, who were rescued from the hardest-hit areas.

Rescuers are transporting injured minors from La Guaira, a coastal town devastated by two powerful earthquakes. "Several of the children arrive alone because they are brought quickly from the place where they are rescued," explained a doctor who requested anonymity. Some provide their names, while others arrive "identified with tape on their arm," added another doctor, also speaking anonymously.

"Most have no family, they arrive alone, and what the paramedics tell us is that they pull them from the rubble, put them in the ambulance, and bring them here because the hospitals in La Guaira are very full," the doctor said. Authorities estimate around 1,520 injured and nearly 200 missing people following the tragedy.