In the neighborhood of San Bernardino in Caracas, volunteers operating at one of more than 300 collection centers managing incoming clothing and food have issued an urgent appeal for international donations, prioritizing medications and heavy machinery to accelerate ongoing rescue operations.
Along Los Próceres Avenue, specialized rescue teams from Qatar alongside hundreds of local residents continue to work around the clock. Armed with hammers and filling buckets with debris, they are systematically clearing the remains of an apartment building that collapsed on June 24 with an unknown number of residents trapped inside.
“One of my daughter’s friends lives in that building and was inside when it collapsed. We still haven’t heard any news,” 48-year-old local resident Lizmari told Lusa.
For Lizmari, hope is the last thing to fade. Overcoming the initial panic caused by the twin earthquakes—which registered magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5—she took to the streets to contribute however she could. She found her purpose at a local food and clothing distribution hub just meters away from where emergency crews are cutting through concrete and twisted rebar to reach those trapped beneath the rubble.
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“If they are no longer alive, at least let them be found so their families can begin to grieve and have a body to weep over,” she said.
While the distribution center has managed to accumulate an adequate supply of clothing and food to assist displaced families, Lizmari emphasized that medical supplies remain critically low.
“We have enough food and clothes to support many families, but we are missing medicines—a lot of them,” she stressed, urging international donors to shift their focus toward pharmaceutical and medical aid.
She expressed profound gratitude for the global response to the disaster, stating she feels “proud of the world for the support it is giving to Venezuela.”
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“I am very proud to be Venezuelan, and I am also happy with our solidarity. Every neighbor left their home to help; we are all out on the street, and that is what matters right now,” she added.
However, she noted that manual labor alone is not enough to cope with the sheer scale of the destruction. Lizmari appealed to supporting nations to deploy heavy engineering equipment to the affected zones: “The machinery we currently have is not enough. All hands are welcome, but I ask that the necessary machines also come to accelerate the rescue operations.”
Before returning to her volunteer duties, Lizmari made a direct appeal to Portugal—which she thanked for its early deployment of humanitarian relief flights—asking for targeted support in the form of medical shipments.
“Medicines are what will save us afterward. There are many people sleeping on the streets, including those whose homes still have some walls standing, because they are too terrified to sleep indoors out of fear that the rest of the structure will collapse,” she concluded.
