Searching for closure: Venezuela families refuse to give up after quakes | Earthquakes
La Guaira, Venezuela – For nearly three weeks, Ivan Chino has struggled to find rest.
Each morning, Chino returns to the devastated remains of his neighborhood in La Guaira, searching through the mountains of rubble left by twin earthquakes that struck on June 24, registering magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5. He is no longer looking for survivors; instead, he seeks the bodies of seven family members who disappeared when their apartment building collapsed.
Chino lost his parents, grandson, two nieces, and other relatives in the disaster. His wife and children managed to escape.
Equipped with little more than shovels and pickaxes, Chino and a group of relatives and volunteers devote hours each day to the search, clinging to hope that any discovery will alleviate the weeks of uncertainty they have endured.
“Nothing will stop us,” Chino said. “We will keep searching with our hands, our fingernails, shovels, hammers – whatever we have. We owe it to our families. This is our pain.”
Chino’s story resonates with many families in La Guaira.
The official death toll has surpassed 5,000, yet thousands remain unaccounted for, trapped in a state of emotional limbo that underscores the profound impact of the earthquakes. The families of the missing grapple with both the confirmed casualties and their unresolved loss.
Across the city, excavators work to clear debris from residential areas reduced to rubble. For families, each slab lifted offers a glimmer of hope that their loved ones may finally be found.
Chino emphasizes that the greatest challenge is not a lack of determination but rather the shortage of heavy machinery needed to safely move the large concrete blocks. Many families believe that quicker access to specialized equipment could help accelerate recovery efforts as authorities continue to coordinate debris removal in the hardest-hit neighborhoods.
As days pass, the search for the missing extends beyond the wreckage.
In temporary field offices set up by local authorities, families file reports, photographs, and personal details of their missing relatives. Officials review these submissions, cross-check records, and work to identify those recovered from the debris.
For grieving families, these offices signify a new phase in their search—one that relies on paperwork as opposed to rescue tools, yet driven by the same hope for answers regarding their loved ones.
Search and recovery operations persist.
“We rescued around 280 people alive and recovered nearly 477 bodies,” said Dani Herrera, a search coordinator in La Guaira. “Even today, we continue our work in recovering victims and clearing debris.”
The nature of the mission has evolved since the earthquakes. In the initial days following the disaster, rescuers raced to find survivors trapped beneath collapsed structures. Now, the focus has shifted to recovery—retrieving the deceased, clearing devastated areas, and assisting families in their quest for closure.
For many residents, the uncertainty surrounding their missing relatives remains an overwhelming burden. Without definitive answers, they cannot hold funerals, lay their loved ones to rest, or begin the grieving process.
In La Guaira, the magnitude of the tragedy is no longer defined solely by collapsed buildings or casualty statistics. It is also measured by the heartache of parents awaiting the return of missing children, husbands searching for their wives, and grandparents hoping to hear the names of their lost loved ones.
For Chino, surrendering to despair has never been an option.
He returns each day to the same desolate site, believing that the search for his relatives transcends the act of finding bodies. It is about restoring dignity to those whose lives were tragically cut short in the rubble.
Weeks after the earthquakes, most families no longer cling to the hope of miracles. They seek certainty—the knowledge of their loved ones’ fates, the opportunity to bury them with dignity, and a means to ensure their memories endure as more than mere names on a missing persons list.
