La Guaira, Venezuela – As rescue workers continue to dig through the rubble of a collapsed crowded public housing block – which locals say could have informally housed as many as 900 people – a team of volunteers has set up an advanced emergency response camp.
Fitted with floodlights, fridges, tents, aid collection points and even a health clinic, the camp provides a lifeline to rescue teams, survivors, and family members of the missing following the devastating earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24.
The operation is under the charge of Carolina Vivas, a logistician by profession who has experience helping NGOs mobilize emergency responses. After arriving in Tanaguarenas, a devastated suburb of La Guaira, the weekend after the earthquake, she saw that almost no support had arrived. Most of the aid was not making it past Caraballeda, a neighborhood further east and closer to Caracas.
“When we got here, we saw that we could do a lot to help,” said Vivas. “I saw that I could, with my family and friends, get energy, get food, get medicine.”
Outside the improvised camp, Vivas points to a zone with a blue tarp and table with disinfectants. “This is the disinfecting zone, everybody must clean themselves before entering.”
Vivas arranged for doctors and nurses to come to the camp, where they provide primary care to scores of people helping with rescue operations or waiting for news about their family members.
“What I have been doing, I have been going looking for the doctors. Every day I go and look.”
One of the most common conditions they treat is heatstroke, as rescue teams work all day digging in the blazing Caribbean sun. With a fridge full of cold water and electrolyte drinks, they offer potentially lifesaving support. Survivors pulled from the rubble also require oxygen and first aid.
“It has been really, really hard because every minute is an emergency,” explained Vivas.
Essential to the operation is the charity of regular Venezuelans. Each day, dozens of people arrive to deliver foodstuffs, water, and medical supplies.
“People are amazing, every day helping and bringing us all this aid,” said Vivas.
On her phone, she has a WhatsApp group with other organizers where they send pictures and ID numbers of volunteers holding the aid they have brought. “This way we make sure people don’t bring the same supplies here twice, so that other areas can get help too.”
While hope of finding survivors has dwindled twelve days after the earthquake, families still wait anxiously to recover the bodies of their loved ones.
Andreina Rey lost her daughter and two grandchildren when the earthquake hit. For almost two weeks, she has slept in the street waiting to give them a proper burial.
“What I want is to get them out of there. That’s what I long for. For now, just to get them out of there. I’m not leaving here; I won’t budge or anything until I get them out of there,” she told Latin America Reports.
The team of volunteers at the camp are working night and day to support recovery efforts and give people like Andreina the chance to bid farewell to their loved ones.
“I’m not leaving because I want to keep helping the families that I met. And that’s why I’m still here,” said Vivas.
Featured image description: The ruins of the OPP25 public housing building, which collapsed in the earthquake on June 24.
Featured image credit: Alfie Pannell
