Venezuelan diaspora relives panic, recalling La Guaira trauma after Colombia earthquake

A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Colombia on Monday, August 10, at 7:34 am, disrupting daily routines across the nation. The epicenter was located in San José del Palmar, Chocó, but the tremors were felt as far as Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela. The Colombian government declared a national disaster following confirmation of over 110 deaths, with significant damage reported in Cali, Pereira, and Manizales.

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I woke up, made coffee, sat down to drink it, and was reading the prayer my sister sends me every day. Then, I saw the bedroom door and the curtain blinds start to move.

For Venezuelan migrants living in Colombia, the earthquake triggered intense fear and a terrifying sense of déjà vu. Many had recently experienced a devastating double seismic event in Venezuela just a month and a half prior. The sudden shaking in Colombia forced them to relive the panic and trauma of those events.

In Bogotá's Engativá locality, Venezuelan Lenis Rodelo was reading a prayer when the building began to shake violently. "I woke up, made coffee, sat down to drink it, and was reading the prayer my sister sends me every day. Then, I saw the bedroom door and the curtain blinds start to move," she recounted. Alerting her sleeping children, Rodelo attempted to evacuate the building. "I froze. I stood under the door frame. In my pajamas, I took off my socks and put on some flip-flops," she described.

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I froze, my ears blocked, and I felt dizzy because I couldn't find stability. I felt like I was going to fall.

As the shaking intensified, Rodelo experienced a physical reaction. "I froze, my ears blocked, and I felt dizzy because I couldn't find stability. I felt like I was going to fall," she said. Upon reaching the street, she was met with a scene of chaos, with neighbors, frightened children, and elderly individuals suffering from nervous breakdowns. "The street couldn't hold any more people," she stated.

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The street couldn't hold any more people.

Following the quake, mobile phone networks experienced temporary outages due to the high volume of calls as people desperately tried to contact loved ones. The fear of a catastrophe similar to what they endured in Venezuela was palpable. "It's scary to think something similar could happen, that buildings could fall. You never think you'll experience something like this here, so fear and nerves surface," Rodelo confessed. While work resumed in Bogotá, schools implemented safety measures, sending students home with their parents. For Karelys Perdomo, a Venezuelan systems engineer residing in Bogotá for nearly nine years, the natural disaster was a painful reminder of personal loss. She lost a brother in La Guaira during the June earthquakes, and her sister-in-law remains missing under the rubble. Perdomo was at a bus stop in Bogotá when the recent earthquake struck.

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It's scary to think something similar could happen, that buildings could fall. You never think you'll experience something like this here, so fear and nerves surface.