Venezuela quake survivors cherish kindness of strangers

LA GUAIRA

Queues to receive aid in Venezuela’s La Guaira get longer every day, as people made homeless by two horrific earthquakes last week have nowhere else to go.

Ordinary Venezuelans have taken matters into their own hands following last week’s twin tremors that killed almost 2,000 people and affected over 15,000 more, according to official figures.

Donations and volunteers from across the country have swept into the hardest-hit state of La Guaira, which authorities have declared a “disaster zone.”

Private vehicles distribute everything from water and food to toilet paper and soap, while trucks belonging to the World Central Kitchen NGO trundle through the coastal city.

“Without this I don’t know what we would do,” said 24-year-old Nataly Cardona, who escaped her apartment alive but is now forced to stay on the street.

With every passing hour, it becomes a little trickier to find food and water in the markets of La Guaira, which was decimated by June 24’s quakes of magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5.

“We spend as many hours as we have to, depending on how much we need it,” said Raoni Izaguirre, who had been standing in line for an hour under the blazing sun.

Izaguirre told AFP the donations were indispensable.

Those who didn’t lose everything are out in full force to help residents who weren’t as lucky.

“I feel guilty about eating, because every time I eat I think there’s someone who has nothing to eat,” said Aysmar Lopez, a young woman bringing home-cooked meals to several shelters.

Doctors and vets have also arrived in La Guaira to help.

High blood pressure, nervous breakdowns, respiratory problems, fever and dehydration feature among the most common ailments at the site housing hundreds, according to several doctors consulted.