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🇻🇪 Venezuela /Disasters & Emergencies

Venezuelans clean up earthquake-hit La Guaira

From El Nacional · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News From a news agency Outcome reported
  • Hundreds of Venezuelans participated in a cleanup in La Guaira, a region heavily impacted by recent earthquakes.
  • Volunteers from multiple states, organized by the Sonrisa de Ángel Foundation, collected trash and distributed waste bins.
  • The initiative aims to reduce pollution and aid the region's recovery, with tools and transport provided by donations.

Hundreds of Venezuelans converged on La Guaira this Sunday, answering a call from the Sonrisa de Ángel Foundation for a massive cleanup effort. The volunteers, traveling from states like Carabobo and Caracas, aimed to tackle the pollution plaguing the coastal region, which suffered significantly from earthquakes on June 24.

We are volunteers from Valencia, Maracay, and Caracas. We have had approximately five jornadas, this is the fifth, where we have already collected a lot of bags of trash. We come here because the planet belongs to everyone.

— Yarlín SalazarThe founder of the Sonrisa de Ángel Foundation explained the motivation and scope of the cleanup efforts.

Yarlín Salazar, the foundation's founder, described the effort as their fifth major cleanup. "We are volunteers from Valencia, Maracay, and Caracas. We have had approximately five jornadas, this is the fifth, where we have already collected a lot of bags of trash. We come here because the planet belongs to everyone," Salazar stated. The group, numbering 210 volunteers for this event, divided into teams to cover streets and beaches, working from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to mitigate environmental health risks.

"We try to avoid so many infections in the environment," Salazar added. The necessary supplies, including trash bags, gloves, protective eyewear, and even buses to transport volunteers from Caracas, were all funded by donations. Collected trash was placed along main roads for collection by trucks, though volunteers noted that access issues sometimes hindered pickup. The foundation also distributed 35 trash bins throughout La Guaira to combat visible pollution.

We try to avoid so many infections in the environment.

— Yarlín SalazarSalazar highlighted the health benefits of the cleanup operations.

Jofrer Romero, a La Guaira native, joined the cleanup hoping to see his state "flourish again." "We are still broken but feel hope that the state can rise again," he said. Yilkry Martínez, who runs a tourism company, urged businesses to continue donating essential supplies, emphasizing that her current priority is contributing to La Guaira's recovery. The article also notes that the June earthquakes, measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, officially resulted in at least 6,125 deaths, with over 346,000 tons of debris collected.

We are still broken but feel hope that the state can rise again.

— Jofrer RomeroA local volunteer expressed his desire for La Guaira's recovery.
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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