Months after Venezuela’s earthquakes, families cling to hope in search of loved ones
Families Search for Answers Months After Venezuela’s Earthquakes
Healfromzero.com – Months after Venezuela’s earthquakes, families in La Guaira remain near collapsed homes and damaged neighborhoods, searching for relatives who disappeared in the destruction. More than 100 days after the twin earthquakes struck on June 24, excavators continue moving concrete and twisted metal while survivors and volunteers compare lists of people who have not been found.
For Eilyn Solano, the search is for her 11-year-old son, Jhoniel José Morales. She has stayed in a tent beside the ruins of OPP 26, a government social-housing complex where residential towers collapsed. From only meters away, she watches the recovery work and waits for information that could explain what happened to him.
Officials announced a final death toll of 6,509 on August 24, two months after the disaster. Authorities have not released an official number of missing people, leaving residents to seek answers through hospitals, shelters, cemeteries and neighborhood networks.
A Mother’s Search at OPP 26
Solano’s family has supported rescue workers with water, ice and electrolyte drinks as the operation has continued. Relatives say the remains of more than 17 people have been recovered during the search at the site, but Jhoniel has not been found.
At first, his relatives thought he might have been near a sports field when one of the towers collapsed. A security recording showed him walking down the apartment stairs at 3:59 p.m. on June 24, several hours before the earthquakes.
The family has already suffered devastating losses. Jhoniel’s 15-year-old sister, María Yailén, survived the collapse. His 12-year-old sister, Mariangel, died. Her body was found on the third floor outside the apartment of their grandmother, who had been caring for her that day and was rescued alive hours later.
Search crews inspected the area around the sports field on September 26 but found no sign of the boy.
“Not on the field side, not at the entrance, and certainly not in the hallways,” Eilyn’s sister Chiquinquirá said.
Clues Expand the Search Beyond the Rubble
During the search, workers located the building’s security-camera control room. Inside, they found a disc with a second recording that the family says shows Jhoniel leaving the building only minutes before the earthquake struck. The footage gave relatives reason to widen their search beyond OPP 26.
They have checked streets, collection sites and cemeteries, including La Esperanza cemetery in Catia la Mar, where unidentified people are buried in a designated area. Months after Venezuela’s earthquakes, the possibility that Jhoniel was outside the building has kept his family searching.
“Among all the possibilities there is a glimmer of hope, and that is why we continue the search until the end, until we obtain some kind of answer about the whereabouts of the child,” Chiquinquirá said.
The Solano family also survived the deadly Vargas mudslide of 1999, another disaster that deeply affected the region. They say they will not stop looking until they know what happened to Jhoniel.
Communities Keep Looking From La Guaira to Caracas
Friends, relatives and volunteers have built a network stretching from La Guaira to Caracas. They travel by motorcycle to medical centers, morgues and shelters, ask people to circulate Jhoniel’s photograph, and follow any information that could help locate him.
Across communities where dozens of buildings fell, empty lots, rubble piles and damaged structures remain visible reminders of the disaster. Some sites now have a larger military presence helping remove debris. Families have said that officials were absent from affected areas in the first hours after the earthquakes, while the government led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez has defended rescue teams’ work.
At the Residencias Caribe housing complex, relatives, firefighters and volunteers created a bulletin board listing people who may still be beneath the remains of the building. It serves as both a practical source of information and a reminder that many families are still waiting for certainty.
FAQ: Finding Information After Venezuela’s Earthquakes
Where are families searching for missing relatives?
Families have searched collapsed residential sites, nearby streets, hospitals, shelters, morgues, collection points and cemeteries. Volunteers also share photographs and names through personal networks between La Guaira and Caracas.
Has an official missing-person total been released?
No official number of missing people has been made public. Residents have instead compiled their own lists and compared information across neighborhoods and institutions.
Why do families remain at damaged sites months later?
For many relatives, recovery work and new evidence can still offer clues. In Jhoniel’s case, security footage suggesting he left his building before the earthquake expanded the possible places where his family could search.