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Ketchup, Cheese, 32 Hours
On 24 June, Venezuela was hit by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake followed shortly after by a 7.5-magnitude earthquake, and 12-year-old Fabiana Blanco was trapped under rubble for 32 hours before being freed.
“analysis The Venezuelan government is distracted by suspicion while its people desperately search for the missing Mon 6 Jul 2026 at 4:38am Outside a Caracas morgue Venezuelan police officers surrounded us, yelling and pointing towards our camera”
Her mother, Karina Blanco, said she “started screaming, ‘my daughter, my daughter,’ ” and rushed home to their first-floor apartment in Caraballeda, where she later told the BBC she could see “one building, then a gap where my building stood, and then another building.”
Fabiana recalled that “I saw things shaking, falling, breaking, and then the walls cracked,” and while trapped she survived by finding “a bottle of ketchup and some grated cheese.”
The BBC reported that after 32 hours, rescuers made a hole big enough for Fabiana to escape, and she emerged with minor injuries including “a fracture in her left foot,” while the BBC said she was one of three people rescued alive out of the approximately 50 people who lived in her building.
Fabiana also described the mental effects of the ordeal, telling the BBC that “Initially I was scared to lie down, especially on my back, as I would remember the time I spent in the rubble.”
Dogs, Moles, and Tools
As rescue efforts continued after the June 24 quakes, CNN described search-and-rescue dogs helping locate people trapped beneath rubble, including Tsunami, a mixed-breed border collie, whose government said he “managed to save 25 people from the rubble of buildings that collapsed in the earthquakes.”
CNN also reported that Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said that “some 137 search-and-rescue dogs took part in the operations,” and it described dogs deployed with teams from more than 20 countries to detect human scent.
In parallel, The Guardian focused on volunteer “topos (moles)” digging through collapsed buildings, quoting Esnaider Meléndez saying, “This isn’t about money. It’s about saving lives,” as Darwin Rodríguez and others tried to reach the first floor of Residencia Costa Brava.
The Guardian said the moles traveled six hours from Poblado Uno to Caraballeda in La Guaira, and it quoted Darwin Rodríguez: “I’m not afraid – but you need to be brave to do this,” as they used buckets and spades to clear shards.
The Guardian also described a 15-metre tunnel into Residencia Perlamar, where it said a cousin, Kevin Pérez, told the story of helping without training: “We don’t have any training,” he said, “But we are keen to help.”
Death Toll, Recovery, and Risk
As the rescue phase wound down, AP reported that Venezuelans were left to recover their dead, with Noel Márquez describing how his brother Leonel’s cries gave way to silence and how he was left trying to slice off limbs with “little more than his bare hands and a saw.”
“As quake rescue effort winds down, Venezuelans are left alone to recover their dead As quake rescue effort winds down, Venezuelans are left alone to recover their dead LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — When the high-rise where Noel Márquez lived with his family crashed to the ground and burst into flames in Venezuela’s twin earthquakes, Márquez, who happened to be at his girlfriend’s apartment, raced home and called out for his mother, grandparents and siblings”
AP said authorities announced the death toll rose on Monday to 3,535 and that another 16,740 people were injured, while NBC News reported that Venezuelans were assessing losses 12 days after the twin earthquakes that killed at least 3,535 people.
NBC News added that hundreds gathered in Caracas and Maracaibo for vigils, and it said Delcy Rodríguez declared seven days of “national mourning” on Tuesday.
NBC News also reported that the U.S. Geological Survey estimates the final death toll will most likely be between 10,000 and 100,000, and it quoted Rafael Velasquez saying, “When the spotlight goes somewhere else, we can see” as a factor tied to how much higher the number could go.
In Canada’s Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue account, Global News said the team searched collapsed buildings using drones and canine teams, and it quoted Ryan Berry saying, “If I were to describe it in one word, I’d say it was devastating,” while describing the difficulty of celebrating a life saved amid so much loss.
