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🇻🇪 Venezuela /Disasters & Emergencies

Returning to my devastated birthplace: La Guaira's earthquake ruins and the search for the missing

From El Nacional · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • The author returned to La Guaira, Venezuela, their birthplace, and was deeply affected by the devastation caused by recent earthquakes.
  • La Guaira, once a place of happy childhood memories associated with beaches and family, is now largely destroyed.
  • The government reports thousands of victims and tens of thousands missing, with UN officials preparing for a large number of fatalities.

Returning to La Guaira, the Venezuelan city where the author was born, proved to be a profoundly distressing experience. Once a cherished place of childhood memories, filled with sun, beach, and family gatherings, La Guaira is now unrecognizable, devastated by earthquakes that struck the region last week.

Although I grew up in Caracas, I was born in La Guaira, a place I always returned to and where I keep some of my happiest memories. Therefore, returning now and seeing the destruction caused by the earthquakes of the past week left me with a deep impression.

— The AuthorThe author describes their emotional reaction upon returning to their birthplace after the earthquakes.

The author recalls fond childhood visits, the excitement of trips to their grandmother's house, and later, teenage adventures with friends navigating the journey from Caracas. Even after leaving the country, La Guaira remained a significant point of reference, with its airport serving as Venezuela's main gateway.

The scale of destruction is immense. Buildings have collapsed across the region, and while the government cites thousands of victims and tens of thousands missing, the exact figures remain uncertain. Some estimates suggest over 50,000 people are unaccounted for.

The magnitude of the destruction is impressive. Little remains of the La Guaira I knew, barely vestiges of a city completely transformed by two earthquakes that, in less than a minute, changed everything.

— The AuthorThe author reflects on the overwhelming scale of destruction in La Guaira.

Gianluca Rampolla del Tindaro, the UN resident coordinator in Venezuela, noted that while survivors are still being rescued, authorities are already procuring 10,000 body bags, indicating the anticipated death toll. The author reflects on a different Venezuela, one from the 1990s that still held traces of stability, contrasting sharply with the current devastation.

Although survivors are still being rescued from the rubble, they are already in the process of acquiring 10,000 body bags.

— Gianluca Rampolla del TindaroThe UN resident coordinator in Venezuela highlights the grim reality of the earthquake's aftermath.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El Nacional in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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