A Venezuelan father identified as Alexander spent 11 days digging through the rubble with his bare hands to recover the body of his 12-year-old daughter, without receiving any assistance from the government, according to a video released this Monday by DW Español.
He endured what no father or mother should ever suffer: burying their little one, let alone finding her among the rubble.
The family lived in La Guaira, the state most devastated by the two earthquakes that shook Venezuela on June 24, in a social housing complex built during the government of former President Hugo Chávez.
But Alexander's tragedy does not end with his youngest daughter: his wife and his other two daughters, aged 20 and 15, also lost their lives due to the earthquakes.
The four bodies are now in the morgue, although other residents of the same complex have reported that the authorities have lost track of the remains of their relatives due to the overcrowding of those facilities.
The case reflects a widespread reality in the affected area. "The Venezuelans impacted are still searching for loved ones among the rubble, often without the help of the government," stated DW Español while disseminating the testimony.
In the same video, another survivor describes an even greater loss: "My mother passed away, my grandmother passed away, my grandfather, my brother, and my sister who was eight months pregnant, whom we still haven't found under the rubble."
The official death toll has risen to 3,342 dead and 16,740 injured, but the citizen platform "Encuéntralos" reports over 71,000 people unaccounted for, a figure that is significantly higher than the data provided by the government of Delcy Rodríguez.
La Guaira accounts for 158 of the 189 buildings with total collapse recorded throughout the country. Many of these structures were residential complexes built during the Chavismo era, and their construction quality has come into question following the disaster.
More than 17,000 people lost their homes due to the earthquakes, which, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 — occurring only 39 seconds apart — are considered the strongest in Venezuela since 1900.
At an international level, more than 3,000 rescuers from 33 countries participated in the search efforts. However, as 12 days passed since the earthquake, the likelihood of finding survivors decreased drastically, and several teams began to withdraw.
The United States has concluded its rescue operations this Monday, leaving thousands of Venezuelan families to face the search for their loved ones among the rubble on their own.
As international teams depart and the Maduro government fails to provide answers, families like Alexander's remain the only available rescue force for their loved ones.
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