On the day that two devastating earthquakes struck Venezuela, Andreina Valerio rushed back from work to look for her almost two-year-old son, Santiago.
He was with Andreina’s partner, Ramsés Mendoza, at her in-laws’ home in La Guaira.
When she got there, she found the building in ruins. Her brother-in-law Samuel Mendoza was looking through the pile of rubble that used to be their apartment block.
When I met Andreina outside a crumbling building on Saturday, she told me her son and partner were still trapped inside, along with her partner’s mother, father, grandparents and sister. But she had not given up hope.
Andreina and Samuel told me there were other children trapped in the building, too – a nine-year-old boy named Lucas and a three-year-old girl named Aranza.
Rescue teams from El Salvador and Spain arrived at the scene on Saturday, but were unable to get inside. No one had been rescued from the building by that point.
The first morning after the earthquakes, Samuel said he “heard a woman’s voice, someone whose voice I couldn’t understand at first, and the only word was ‘help’.”
The next day, when Andreina went back, she heard a baby crying.
“I still have faith my son is alive,” she said. “I have faith that it’s my son. And I know my son will get through this, as will his family.”
Andreina and Samuel are two of many Venezuelans searching for loved ones in the rubble, holding out hope that they can be rescued after two massive earthquakes levelled hundreds of buildings across the country.
Families are digging in the rubble with their bare hands in La Guaira, the coastal region which is one of the areas most badly affected.
Those I spoke to were sleep deprived, their voices hoarse from screaming for survivors.
As the hours passed on Friday, neighbours started to help, and people from other parts of Venezuela arrived to provide support.
Rescue teams are working hard across the country, but it seems Venezuela is unprepared to handle the earthquakes – and this is a country that has dealt with extreme crises for years.
