The Catholic Church in Venezuela is leading post-earthquake humanitarian efforts

On July 5, Venezuela’s Independence Day, locals in the city of La Guaira are grieving in conversations crowded with questions about the safety of relatives and acquaintances. Nearly 200 buildings collapsed in this state capital after twin earthquakes on June 24, and now local residents, mostly family members of the missing, are sifting through the rubble of collapsed residential buildings.

They have almost no heavy equipment to work with. Recovery proceeds primarily manually and using rudimentary tools.

The hope of finding more survivors is now over. Most of the search and rescue teams that arrived from around the world in the immediate aftermath of the earthquakes returned to their home countries as the search for survivors turned into an attempt to recover the dead.

More than 10 days after being hit by twin earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5, Venezuela is still reeling.

The capital, Caracas, and the state of La Guaira bore the brunt of the damage. La Guaira is a small but economically important coastal state, located a 40-minute drive from Caracas. It includes the country’s main international airport and seaport, as well as public and private residences on the Caribbean Sea.

By 7 July, the death toll, which was still rising, had reached more than 3,500 people, with 16,000 wounded and 18,000 displaced. The Venezuelan government has not yet released an estimate of how many people are still missing, but Tom Fletcher, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said on June 29 that a figure of 50,000 was “frighteningly plausible.”

According to satellite images released by NASA, at least 58,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged in the Caracas and La Guaira metro areas. A preliminary assessment by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction estimates direct physical damage to housing and infrastructure across Venezuela at $37 billion.

When they’re not clearing rubble, La Guaira survivors set aside time each day to find food and water at aid centers set up throughout the city by international humanitarian groups and the Venezuelan government.

The people save the people

One local survivor is Alexis Omania, 50. The apartment building he owned in Caraballeda, a city in central La Guaira state, completely collapsed. But in a stroke of luck, he and his family went to a family party in Caracas on the day of the earthquakes, a decision that saved their lives. The Umaña family found shelter in temporary housing in Caracas.

Alexis Omaña Credit: Estefanía Salazar Collapsed apartment in Caraballeda Credit: Estefanía Salazar Damage to San Sebastián Church, La Guaira Credit: Estefanía Salazar Banners go up searching for missing family members in La Guaira. Credit: Estefania Salazar

Since the day after the earthquakes, Mr. Umanya has been traveling back and forth on his motorcycle between the shelter site and his former home. He has been helping local and international urban search and rescue teams pull surviving neighbors from the rubble and organizing fellow volunteers into task forces.

He speaks warmly of the rapid response the city received from international rescuers, including a team from the United States who worked in the collapsed apartment building, and of the courage of fellow volunteers from his community. A common saying in Venezuela is: El pueblo salva al pueblo (“The people save the people”).

But like many others in Venezuela, Umaña could not speak kindly about the performance of Venezuelan government officials. “They did nothing,” he says bitterly.

His discontent with the government and the leadership of President Delcy Rodriguez is a sentiment widely shared by other Venezuelans on social media.

Mr. Umaña has survived other disasters in La Guaira, including the deadly 1999 mudslides at the beginning of Hugo Chavez’s presidency. But he says: “This is the worst we have seen.”

Despite this history and the devastation that surrounds him, Mr. Umanya has no intention of abandoning his community. “I love La Guaira,” he says. “I grew up here… We have to start over.”

Other locals who accompanied Mr. Umanya wonder how to cope with their damaged homes, but immediately worry about how to get food and water for their families. “We don’t have jobs now,” one of them explains.

The earthquakes rocked the country, which is already suffering from a years-long humanitarian crisis, Caritas Internationale, the church’s global relief network, reported. Venezuelans have struggled through years of economic turmoil and decline. The country’s healthcare system is in disarray.

Venezuelans have yet to achieve any tangible social or economic improvement since the Trump and Rodriguez administrations re-established a working relationship following the US raid on Caracas in January. This military intervention removed Nicolas Maduro from the presidency and left the country’s oil industry sales under the control of the White House.

When the ground shook and high-rise buildings collapsed in Caracas and La Guaira, the government was unable to deploy heavy machinery sufficient for the disaster level.

With a lack of government response in many communities, ordinary Venezuelans across the country have rushed to fill the humanitarian void. National solidarity was evident in the queue of cars and private trucks filled with donations moving along the highway between Caracas and La Guaira.

Handwritten signs on the windows of cars and trucks display “Ayuda Humanitaria” (“Humanitarian Aid”) or “Free Wi-Fi.” Hundreds of other online fundraising and aid initiatives have been created. Many are led by members of the large Venezuelan diaspora; An estimated 8 million Venezuelans left the country for other countries in Latin America and the United States as the Chavismo era exhausted itself.

Make education a priority

This solidarity also strengthens Catholic efforts to respond to the disaster in Venezuela. Fe y Alegría (“Faith and Joy”), a well-known and respected educational and social movement, was founded by José María Villas, a Jesuit, in a working-class neighborhood in Caracas in 1955. The global movement is now the largest Jesuit-run educational network in the world, serving more than 700,000 students in 22 countries and three continents.

Each Fe y Alegría school is more than just a set of classrooms for the often poor urban and rural communities it serves. The movement is “about the people,” says José Gregorio Teran, general director of Fe y Alegría in Venezuela.

Nineteen Fe y Alegría schools were severely damaged in the two earthquakes, according to the latest figures from the organisation. Some students and staff are still missing, and many others have lost their entire homes.

The Fe y Alegría Simón Bolívar school, in Carrabaleda, is one of the most affected schools. With 600 students in elementary and high school, the center has become an emergency shelter for the surrounding community.

Unfortunately, 11 students and three teachers are still missing. “We felt the earthquake inside,” the school’s principal, Leonardo Suarez, told visitors.

Fe y Alegría’s emergency response focuses on damage assessment and psychosocial and pastoral accompaniment of staff and students, ensuring the restoration of services and supplies in affected schools. Fe y Alegría directors are formulating a long-term strategic plan for Venezuela’s recovery. This will include re-evaluating the needs of schools that survived direct damage from the earthquakes.

Fe y Alegría was already struggling with some pre-existing conditions in Venezuela, and trying to address low salaries and the continued loss of teachers to migration. With the country suffering from hyperinflation, the official minimum wage for Venezuelan public sector workers remains frozen at the equivalent of one dollar per month.

The workers rely on bonuses and adjustments provided by the government, receiving effective monthly wages of up to $240, an income that is still far less than the cost of a basket of basic goods each month. Currently, a Fe y Alegría teacher’s income can be up to $350 per month after adding non-salary bonuses from the local Department of Education and from private donors.

Many Venezuelans depend on remittances from abroad or “gray market” income. Up to 80 percent of the population has reached poverty.

Father Teran hopes to see education and health services elevated to top-tier priorities in any plan for Venezuela’s long-term recovery. “The Venezuelan government should really think [critically] “Investing in oil and energy can provide immediate returns, but if education does not receive the same level of priority, [social] The costs will be much higher in the future. “It is not just a moral issue, it is a strategic issue.”

The Xavier Network connects Jesuit relief and economic development efforts and mission offices throughout North America, Europe, and Australia. It has launched a global emergency appeal to support the efforts of the Society of Jesus in Venezuela, including Fe y Alegría, the Jesuit Refugee Service of Venezuela and others, in coordination with the local province.

“The money is getting to the people who need it, quickly and responsibly,” says Nate Radomski, executive director of American Jesuits International, one of the key partners in the Xavier campaign.

Keeping schools open and functioning is especially important after disasters such as the twin earthquakes. “They provide psychological support to the children,” says Mr. Radomski. “They provide protection, they provide support to the parents.”

The Venezuelan Catholic Church, the country’s largest religious denomination, is stepping forward as the institutional force behind the collection and distribution of humanitarian relief nationwide through Caritas Venezuela. He also, of course, continues to provide spiritual solace during disaster.

“We might be tempted to think that this was an act of anger,” says Father Teran. “But God does not send earthquakes. He is the one who brings us closer to life.”

“We believe in the resurrection”

The church’s priest, Father Rafael Troconis, reported that the entire facade of the San Sebastian Church, located in Maiquetía, a district of La Guaira, collapsed during the earthquakes, but fortunately there were no casualties in the church. But many parishioners lost friends and family when their homes fell around them. They were commemorated during masses held in a nearby public square on July 5.

Today’s Gospel was the story of the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-37). “The Son of God does not remain indifferent or unaffected by pain, because God chose pain and chose to give meaning to pain,” Father Troconis told his parishioners during his sermon. “There are people who sacrifice entire days digging, sometimes with their own hands.”

“This pain was worth it so that someone could be found, or perhaps so that a family could at least find the body of a loved one… But the story does not end there because three days later the most important event in history took place: Jesus rose.”

“Death will not have the last word in people’s lives, in our lives, brothers and sisters,” Father Troconis said. “We believe in the resurrection.”

Find out how you can help Venezuela’s recovery by visiting the American Jesuit Emergency Appeal for Venezuela, Catholic Relief Services, or Caritas International.

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