Venezuelan Americans are trying to find solutions from 1000’s of miles away after devasting back-to-back 7.2- and seven.5-magnitude earthquakes hit Venezuela on Wednesday.
Dana Jimenez, an help reduction organizer in Houston, is from Caracas, one of many locations rocked by the quakes.
“I was looking for my dad (for) 15 hours,” Jimenez advised NCS affiliate KTRK. After posting footage on social media, she made contact.
“(My dad) was able to send a voice (message) and say, ‘Hey, I’m okay, don’t worry, I’m helping other people.’”
Arnaldo Goita, proprietor of the Richmond, Virginia, meals truck On the Grill RVA, returned from visiting his family in Venezuela two months in the past.
“The room where I stayed in Caracas, where I slept, both walls came down. I have a cousin that almost lost his two daughters,” Goita advised NCS affiliate WTVR.
While Jimenez and Goita have confirmed their members of the family are protected, not everybody has been that fortunate.
Kelly Montano, proprietor of Full Arepas in Los Angeles, advised NCS affiliate KABC that her parents have been simply north of Caracas in the course of the quakes.
“They are missing. They were in one of the buildings that collapsed in La Guaira,” Montano stated.
The first 48 to 72 hours are thought-about essentially the most essential for profitable rescue efforts.
“By this time, almost more than 72 hours, it’s difficult to find them alive,” Montano stated.
Jimenez, Goita, and Montano are accumulating garments, toiletries, child objects and non-perishable meals for the victims in Venezuela.
“I don’t have time for crying,” Montano advised KABC. “If we cannot help from over there, we can help from here.”