A young man stands on the rubble of a flattened multi-story building in La Guaira, a port city that bore the brunt of the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that shook Venezuela last week.
He’s looking for his father, he tells FRANCE 24, as a number of other Venezuelans also comb the site trying to find missing loved ones.
“I have to look for him here, on the sixth floor,” said the young man standing on the debris of the collapsed floor. “That’s the washing machine. I want to find him … I want to see him, whether he’s alive or dead – to find peace.”
A week after the massive quakes that killed more than 2,000 people, according to officials figures, thousands more remain unaccounted for.
“We’re organising with all our neighbours to search for them, with civil protection teams, the police. We’re trying to save at least the souls of our loved ones. We’re lost so many,” said another desperate La Guaira resident.
>> Click on video player above to watch FRANCE 24’s report from the epicentre of the Venezuelan earthquakes.
