Double tragedy: Venezuelan family searches for relatives after earthquake, finds niece's body in collapsed building

The aftermath of Venezuela's recent double earthquake has brought a double tragedy for the Paredes family, with one relative, Lisbet Pacheco, enduring an agonizing eight-day search for her niece, María Gabriela Paredes. The search concluded tragically with the discovery of María Gabriela's body amidst the rubble of the Petunia I residential building in Caracas.

Pacheco described the moment of discovery with a profound sense of resignation, worn down by days of uncertainty. Her niece, a 31-year-old single mother of three, was reportedly caught in the collapse while preparing to leave her apartment. "She was caught as if she were asleep," Pacheco recounted. "We knew she was in the building because she had just spoken to her eldest daughter, who told her she was coming to pick her up, that she was bringing the groceries. I imagine she lay down because we were told here it was instantaneous death."

“

She was caught as if she were asleep. We knew she was in the building because she had just spoken to her eldest daughter, who told her she was coming to pick her up, that she was bringing the groceries. I imagine she lay down because we were told here it was instantaneous death.

Fortunately, María Gabriela's three young children, aged 13, 10, and 6, were not in the apartment at the time of the collapse. They were staying with a relative elsewhere in the city, physically safe but now facing the permanent void left by their mother's death. The apartment itself was undergoing renovations, which coincidentally meant the children were not present.

The process of identifying María Gabriela's body was harrowing. At the National Service of Forensic Medicine and Sciences (Senamecf), Pacheco had to sift through a digital archive of over 400 disfigured and sometimes burned victim photographs. "We didn't recognize her ourselves," Pacheco said. "If it weren't for two tattoos, we would have said it wasn't her. Her face looked like someone else's." Tattoos on her arms, the initials of her three children on her right arm and a rose on her left, ultimately confirmed her identity. The experience highlighted the institutional failures and lack of information families faced during the emergency.

“

We didn't recognize her ourselves. If it weren't for two tattoos, we would have said it wasn't her. Her face looked like someone else's.