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  • 7 hours ago
After the devastating double earthquake that devastated the northern region of Venezuela on June 24th, joint rescue teams are working to rescue people trapped under the rubble. Our correspondent Belen de los Santos reports from the affected areas. teleSUR
Transcript
00:00And right now we are just hours before it's passed, eight days since the two earthquakes that struck Venezuela on
00:09June 24.
00:10At this moment, the rescue operations continue, and right now we have information from our correspondent deployed in La Guaya
00:20State about the current situation, how the people is living this moment.
00:24Let's recall that this will be the eighth date since the two earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24.
00:31Let's hear the information of our correspondent, Belen de los Santos.
00:38Hello, Lorena. How are you?
00:40Just as you were saying, we are here in La Guaya as we have been every minute since the two
00:46earthquakes struck on Venezuela.
00:49And, well, you were just saying it, right?
00:51It is a little bit over a week since that moment.
00:56A lot has happened.
00:57The operations, the rescue operations continue with the Venezuelan brigades, with all its different organizations, alongside the international brigades as
01:08well.
01:09We have been talking to different rescuers, different people responsible for these operations.
01:15All of them have said the same thing.
01:17Operations will not stop until they have absolutely ruled out every possibility of life at every working site.
01:27We have also talked to some of the brigades that explained to us in the past days that they were
01:33starting to go to every site where they had already worked once again to double and triple check the situation
01:41there.
01:42That is the situation in terms of the rescue efforts that, as you were saying, continue, of course, after one
01:51week, more than a week that the earthquakes struck here.
01:58And that is why the efforts are also put strongly on the assistance to everyone who has survived this.
02:09Because what happens now and what happens to the Venezuelan people has to do with what is coming these days,
02:17the weeks, and the months to come have to do with a collective effort of recovery and reconstruction.
02:23And that has to do also with what is happening here in La Guayra, the most affected state.
02:28It is the setting up of temporary camps that are already working, functional, receiving people who have lost their homes
02:38or that have homes with structural damage.
02:42They cannot go back there.
02:44They have places to stay, to receive food, water, a place to sleep, and to just spend these days.
02:53Many while there continue to search and wait for family members that continue to be disappeared, for example.
03:01We have also hospitals bringing attention to those people in need as well.
03:07In the past days, we have been going through these places that are destined for the donations that are coming
03:15from all over the country and also international efforts.
03:19They are collecting them, distributing them among the people, also among other centers.
03:24So all of that is deployed at the same time that the rescue operations continue.
03:30We have the privilege here in Telesur of being able to follow these efforts minute by minute.
03:36And we are not just concentrating on a single thing.
03:39We can go to every place of every temporary camp, every hospital, and really see how this is being lived
03:48on the ground.
03:49A very difficult moment and a moment in which the community as a whole, from the government organizations, to the
03:57communes, to the international brigades,
03:59are joining together in order to provide the most assistance possible in the situation.
04:06Belen, I also want to ask you, as the day has been passing, and it's also a very important topic
04:13also to talk about,
04:15how it's currently the emotional situation of the family, of the people that are there,
04:21because we have seen the government also talking about the psychological assistance that is very important to assist the people
04:30that have passed throughout all this trauma, throughout all this difficult situation.
04:34I want to ask you, how can you see about the emotional situation of the people in La Guayra State,
04:41the most affected state of all Venezuela?
04:47Well, of course, the emotional situation, the emotional impact, as anyone could possibly understand,
04:55it's very, very harsh, it's very, very difficult for people just to see their homes destroyed by such a natural
05:04force
05:04as this earthquake, something that could not have been foreseen,
05:08and not only to speak of those who have lost family members or still don't know what happened to them,
05:16the emotional distraught is devastating, really, of course.
05:20But as you were saying, there are such great efforts made in terms of incorporating this phase of the tragedy
05:31to the assistance.
05:33This is not just medical assistance, not only just food and water, the psychological assistance is also very important.
05:40Let me tell you that, for example, hours ago, we were not here in Caracas, in La Guayra,
05:46but in Caracas at one of the temporary camps, we spoke to some of the doctors there
05:52who had been attending to people both in Caracas, in La Guayra as well,
05:58and they were telling us the importance of this.
06:01They were saying, of course, this is medical attention, but we are actually also consoling them,
06:08almost becoming their friends.
06:10These people need this human attention first, and that is the goal of everyone deployed.
06:17We have been seeing this same sentiment in different temporary camps.
06:23We also visited one just a few days ago here in La Guayra, set up for elderly people in particular.
06:31There's one also caring for children in particular.
06:36So the idea of building these spaces that particularly care to different sectors of the population,
06:43also the most vulnerable sectors of the population, has this in mind.
06:48The idea that it is not just providing a shelter, and that is very important, of course.
06:54It is providing a home, a psychological assistance, and just accompanying these people
07:01through this very difficult time in a collective effort, Lorena.
07:05Thank you so much, Valen.
07:06I think your information is very important in this moment,
07:10and gives us also a comprehensive understanding of how the people are also standing out in this situation.
07:18And now we go with other information at this moment.
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