Venezuelan woman sleeps outside destroyed home awaiting rescue of her son

In La Guaira, Venezuela, Aurora Rodríguez endures a heartbreaking vigil, sleeping outside the ruins of her home. She waits for any news, alive or dead, of her 25-year-old son, who was inside the house with their pets when twin earthquakes struck the region. Rodríguez was at work when the disaster hit and managed to escape.

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My son was accompanied by 12 kittens and five puppies.

She recounted to EFE how her son was trapped with 12 kittens and five puppies. While she managed to rescue some of the animals, she found one kitten dead. Rodríguez, 52, has personally attempted to clear the rubble in a desperate effort to reach her son, but she acknowledges her limitations and is now calling for heavy machinery to assist with the more substantial debris.

"I am not the only one; there are many grieving families with relatives buried. But I want to bring my son home," she stated, her voice filled with anguish. Nearly a week after the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes, rescue teams are meticulously marking collapsed buildings. They paint names and addresses of the deceased on walls and indicate the number of bodies still to be recovered, sometimes marking their location with an arrow.

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I am not the only one; there are many grieving families with relatives buried. But I want to bring my son home.

The government reported that at least 1,943 people have died and 10,571 have been injured. The disaster zone has deployed 3,660 foreign rescuers, 148 dogs, 49 support vehicles, and 26,121 Venezuelan personnel. Rodríguez clings to hope, believing that if her animals survived, her son might too. She has been sleeping on mats outside her destroyed home, subsisting on water and food brought by volunteers, and has repeatedly called her son's phone, searching for any sign of life. Her only concern now is recovering her son, "however he may be."

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I want to bring my son home, however he may be.