How are these Venezuelans living a month after the earthquakes?

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela – It’s been a month since earthquakes rocked Venezuela and killed thousands, but in La Guaira state, the old way of life seems like a distant memory.

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Walking through a residential area is like passing through a cemetery of buildings that are no longer recognizable, not even to the people who have lived there for years.

Then there is another reality affecting the state: the displaced. Hundreds of people are now living in donated tents after losing their homes.

Some still hope that the government will help them regain what they lost. Others just want someone to tell them that their home can be habitable again.

This is the case in the Brisas de Maiquetia housing project, which is located directly across from the international airport serving Caracas.

It is a housing complex built under the Great Housing Mission, a state program created by the late President Hugo Chavez in 2011 to provide social housing for low-income individuals and disaster victims.

Upon entering, one notices a sea of ​​white and blue fabrics beneath the once habitable buildings.

Ray Cazorla, a local resident who has lived there for nearly 16 years, says the situation is getting worse every day and the help arriving is very scarce.

“International aid is not allowed to pass through here or it does not actually arrive […] “I saw flyers showing a truck here carrying international boxes that were never delivered, it was a lie,” Cazorla told Noticias Telemundo.

The problem is exacerbated when entering the tents. Heat, humidity and steam make it impossible to stay inside. “We could barely survive like this,” Cazorla added. “We were able to survive thanks to the fans that we had to connect to the electricity poles, and the wires that we installed ourselves.”

Previously, residents had been sleeping in tents outside the residential complex, but when interim President Delcy Rodriguez visited the area on July 15 to inspect relief efforts, they were told they had to return to the complex.

Inside, only bunk beds were provided. Everything else – refrigerators, stoves, gas cylinders, even portable air conditioners – are possessions that families have been able to take from their apartments.

Cazorla explained that he was unable to remove anything from his house because the stairs were severely cracked by the earthquakes, and he feared that if he moved any heavy appliances, the entire staircase would collapse.

According to him, the engineers who inspected the buildings said they did not have any structural problems, only problems with the masonry and brickwork. He doesn’t believe them.

“One of the towers had a broken main beam,” Cazorla said. “I don’t know if they’re going to fix it, but all the apartments are like this.”

Residents say that drinking water does not reach the area. That is why there are drinking water tanks equipped with filters at various points throughout the project. It was installed not by the government, but by the Kadena Foundation, a humanitarian organization for the global Jewish community.

Interior of one of the donated tents at the Brisas de Maiquetia housing complex. Julimar Rivas

However, the filtration system has drawbacks: filling a five-liter vessel can take a whole day, as the process is done drop by drop.

The remaining tanks, many of which were recovered from the rubble, are filled with water from the street. Residents say the water is yellow and undrinkable. They only use it for bathing and cooking.

“Every day we feel more lonely,” Cazorla said. “On the first day the government arrived with a large crowd. There was a real uproar, because we thought they would speed up the process.”

He said hopes were dashed when no one from the government showed up in the following days, and neighbors were left alone, tending to their homes and waiting in tents for the nightmare to pass.

The interim Venezuelan government assured them that they could return to their apartments by March 2027. The news was not well received, although some had already resigned themselves to the idea that this tent would be their home for several months. “We will be here for several months,” one person noted. “We are all living off the land because no one wants to leave their apartment for fear of their few valuables being stolen.”

Some people decorated the entrance to their tents with plants, flowers and family mementos. Others put cement under them so that the soil does not disturb them as much.

The city of Brisas de Maiquetía was not spared from looting, a problem affecting the entire La Guaira region. Some buildings have messages painted on their walls: “It has already been looted” or “Neighbours, be alert, no more looting.” Residents said that they were able to control the situation themselves, despite the presence of a police station inside the area and patrols of National Guard forces.

Temporary shelter in Brisas de Maiquetia in La Guaira. Julimar Rivas 10 bathrooms for 600 families

The area is home to more than 3,000 people, who must use state-provided public toilets, many of which are not well maintained. There are 10 public bathrooms that have become unusable over time due to misuse by some residents.

A young couple living in the buildings said they had to repair the bathrooms themselves and intend to maintain them until they are usable.

One of them said: “Now there is no water because the children come unattended and drain the entire tank. When you go to shower, there is nothing left.”

Cazorla pointed to other daily issues and risks.

“There are a lot of mosquitoes, a lot of flies,” he said. “We are vulnerable to the spread of cholera or dengue fever.” “There is standing water due to rain and a viral outbreak could happen at any moment.”

Nora Romero, another neighbor, said some people rush to their apartments to shower, exposing themselves to further collapse. Residents are trying to make a living among the rubble because living in tents is not possible, but the fear persists: What will happen if an aftershock destroys the buildings?

“The situation is very sensitive because there are children. They didn’t even remove the rubble – we received some aid, but what we need most is water for the children because diarrhea, flu and cough are already a problem,” Romero said.

“We are at risk,” Cazorla said. “The stairs have already lost their foundations and are at risk of collapsing in any aftershock.”

Rebuilding what was broken

Carlos, who prefers to remain anonymous, lives on the first floor of one of the towers. His apartment no longer has a kitchen or bathroom, but he and his two children are still trying to make a living among the rubble.

“I just redid the apartment. I changed the kitchen and the flooring. And now I’ve lost all of that,” he said. The renovations cost about $2,000, money he knows he won’t make back.

Andrea DeBoer, who lives on the second floor of the buildings near the entrance to the residential project, said that only the ground floor and first floor apartments – the most damaged – will be repaired, while the upper floors, which also suffered some infrastructure damage, were left without a response.

“The officials came to take pictures and then left,” said Debord, who lives in a tent with her partner, Leonexis Sikida, and their daughter. “They built two walls, and both of them collapsed. These apartments are uninhabitable, and the walls are cracking more every day.”

Andrea Debord wants to leave Brisas de Maiquetia because they lack the basics, but “there is nothing left” in the state. Julimar Rivas

Aid was scarce. The water from the tanks tastes like chlorine, so they choose to buy water or wait until the donated water runs out before drinking water from the tanks.

Andrea said that after the earthquake, when they were living outside the housing project on a street across from the airport, they never lacked food.

That changed when Delcy Rodriguez visited the area on July 15 and they were taken inside the apartment complex. “Since we got here, they haven’t brought any food. They give us a government bag, and we get everything ourselves.”

Debord worked at the airport, which has not yet resumed operations, and she is afraid to return. “Without a job, what will we do? We are not saying that we will benefit from the government, but they should help us.”

“It’s very frustrating, we want to leave, but the question is where do we go? The whole state has been affected. Businesses, supermarkets, pharmacies, banks – there is nothing left,” DeBoer said.

According to residents, the governor of La Guaira state, José Alejandro Teran, visited the neighborhood only twice, but no help was felt. We contacted the governor’s office for comment, but received no response.

Debord and Sikida are anxious about returning to school and work. “I don’t know what the high school will be like. I’ve thought about going back to work, but I’m afraid, because all those structures are broken. If we go there and they don’t fix it properly, there will be another tragedy.”

Residents of Brisas de Maiquetia say they are asking for only one thing: help. They are asking the government to meet the basic needs of society and for the international community not to turn a blind eye.

Aside from the rubble and collapsed buildings, the quake left behind people who they hope will not be forgotten.

An earlier version of this story was first published in Noticias Telemundo.

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