Nuestra Covertura in Spanish
caracas, venezuela —
Venezuela was collapsing long before two consecutive earthquakes destroyed the country’s foundations last Wednesday. The effects of more than a decade of government mismanagement and economic sanctions are evident at the José Manuel de los Rios Children’s Hospital in Caracas. The hospital’s Dr. Huniades Urbina Medina can only treat four children at a time in the intensive care unit.
The ICU “(used to) be able to admit up to 10 patients,” Urbina Medina said. “But we have been short on staff, medicine and ventilators for at least a decade.”
One of the four patients being treated was a 12-year-old girl who was trapped several stories below the collapsed building. She is suffering from numerous life-threatening injuries.
About 100 children have been treated in other parts of the hospital since last week, some of whom were injured in the earthquake. The Venezuelan government only updates casualty numbers from the earthquake in stages. The death toll now stands at over 1,700 and the number of injured at over 5,000.
On Monday, Ecuadorian rescue teams said they had pulled a 12-year-old boy alive from rubble in La Guaira province, but rescues are expected to become increasingly rare now that the so-called “golden window” for survival after the earthquake has passed.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes likely killed tens of thousands of people. We may never know the true number. When a similar tragedy struck the state of La Guaira in 1999, the government never released an official death toll.
The government has extended school closures, with preliminary information showing that 432 schools have been affected in Caracas alone. Some of the buildings being used as temporary shelters for thousands of evacuees include schools that were not damaged.
Drone video captures day 5 after twin earthquakes in Venezuela
Drone footage shows the devastation in earthquake-affected areas of La Guaira. Rescue teams continue to search through rubble as more than 1,700 people are known to have died in Venezuela since last week’s earthquake.
Dr. Urbina Medina told CNN that no hospital in Venezuela is prepared for an emergency as large as last week’s double earthquake.
“There is no hospital in Venezuela that is prepared on a day-to-day basis,” Urbana Medina said. “But in this catastrophe, we do not have enough medical supplies, personnel and equipment here in Venezuela, which makes things even worse.”
Before the earthquake, the government generally defended the national health system as strong, blaming shortcomings on U.S. sanctions.
‘We are not ready’: Years of mismanagement come to light as Venezuela shakes
Other doctors interviewed by CNN had similar complaints. Dr Andrés Cortis, a volunteer with Healing Venezuela, a British charity that provides free medical care in the country, said many hospitals had been damaged. Cortis said eight hospitals in Caracas had been forced to close, and the remaining hospitals were overwhelmed with patients and lacked basic cleaning supplies such as bleach and disinfectant.
Other problems existed even before the earthquake. As Venezuela has fallen further into crisis over the past decade due to socialist government mismanagement and U.S. economic sanctions, many talented medical staff in Urbana Medina have left the country in search of better opportunities abroad. A similar brain drain is affecting schools in Venezuela, which suffered from a severe teacher shortage before the earthquake.
Other medical professionals have also recently been forced to retire. Shortly after then-President Nicolás Maduro was captured by the United States in January, Venezuela ended Cuba’s longstanding medical mission in the country, cutting off vital resources for underserved communities.
After the two earthquakes, it took 24 hours for the smell of death to seep out of the ruins of Caracas. Currently, the smell of decay lingers around the collapsed buildings in the city. The impact is overwhelming, but it cannot deter the families of those still trapped under the rubble. Many people are camping along the edge of piles of crushed concrete and rebar, waiting to hear from relatives.
Mirella Herrera is one of them. Every day, she waited outside the apartment building that her son had destroyed, looking for any sign of him, his wife, and their children.
“I’m angry,” she said, crying. “As much as I feel hopeless and in pain, I walk and hydrate and wonder what’s going on with them. If they’re still alive, they must be desperate to get out of there.”
A whiteboard near the site shows a schematic diagram of the building and its eight-story structure. Family names are written on each floor. The dead, rescued, and missing persons are also counted. Twelve people inside the building have died so far. Three people were rescued and 20 remain in the ruins. Not a single one has been found in the past two days.
Typically, when a disaster like this occurs, the next three days are the “best” window to find survivors. Humans can usually survive for only three days without water. Five days after the earthquake, Herrera said she still remains hopeful.
“My son feels strong,” she said. “I feel like he’s waiting for me and knows that I’m here watching him. That’s why I don’t want to give up.”
Early Monday morning, Venezuela woke up to a new earthquake. The aftershock was small at magnitude 4.9, but severe enough to throw people from their homes and temporary shelters onto the streets in their pajamas.
The government quickly announced that there had been no damage from the aftershocks, but it was of little consolation. Those whose homes were not destroyed last week are also unable to return. Cracks have crept into the sides of many abandoned buildings. There are also posters of former presidents Maduro and Hugo Chávez on the sides of many buildings, a reminder of who built some of the shoddy housing that has collapsed.
Soledad Campos Aparicio, 78, waited outside her apartment in Caracas on Monday, holding her dog tightly. The apartment building next door to hers, The Petunia, collapsed in the earthquake, and now authorities are not allowing her or her neighbors to return home. Heavy equipment surrounded the scene and rescue workers removed debris.
Some municipalities use “traffic light” codes to communicate the extent of damage to existing buildings. Green means habitable, yellow means moderate damage, and red means the building is unsafe.
“We’ve been coming and going, but they won’t let us stay,” Campos Aparicio told CNN. She really wants to go back to her apartment. “I fell, fainted, and injured my knee. I wasn’t feeling well, but I’m independent.”
Isa Soares, Madalena Araujo and Mary Trinny Mena reported from Caracas.
