Two Survivors Share Their Stories in Venezuela
Carlos was at home when the first 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck, followed only 39 seconds later by a second 7.5 monster-tremor. Foundations tore; buildings toppled.
“I was at home with my mom. We were on the porch. It was a terrifying moment,” he explained. “I thought it was a plane that had crashed. When we looked out, there were many destroyed buildings.”
Carlos, ignoring his own injuries, rushed outside after the quakes and began rescuing survivors. After the dust and his adrenaline settled, he realised he needed medical attention.
In a matter of seconds, multistory structures plummeted to the ground, transforming into mounds of twisted metal and concrete.
After the initial shaking stopped, Carlos’ thoughts turned to others. “I went out to help people, because my house was left untouched, but the other houses, the people—they needed help,” he says.
Carlos rushed to what was once a 14-story apartment building near his home to see if he could save anyone in the two stories that remained.
There, he found a child pinned between two concrete slabs. He instantly got to work pulling the child out. While rescuing the child, Carlos slipped and fractured his knee, but he kept moving, not noticing the severity of the injury because of the adrenaline.
Many earthquake survivors began searching through the rubble in the aftermath of the quakes. Now almost two weeks later, unstable structures and at least 1,200 aftershocks, so far, have made recovery efforts dangerous.
“I saved a child who was buried under the rubble, and I think it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever done in my life. It doesn’t matter that I hurt my knee or anything,” he said.
With immense sorrow, Carlos expressed how he wishes he could have saved more lives.
“I tried to help as much as I could. I couldn’t do any more,” he said.
Having an Unbreakable Spirit
The second earthquake, which ruptured across the state of La Guaira on June 24, was the strongest recorded in more than a century in Venezuela, leaving the country in a humanitarian crisis. At least 4,300 people lost their lives in the twin quakes and many more are missing.
By June 26, Samaritan’s Purse had a forward team in the country to begin responding to the crisis. Our Disaster Assistance Response Team is now running an Emergency Field Hospital, and we have provided water filtration systems and essential relief supplies to benefit many thousands of people.
Carlos was one of many quickly brought to the Samaritan’s Purse field hospital built in La Guaira. Our medical team treated his knee fracture, prayed with him, and listened to his story.
“There isn’t a person that we’ve interacted with here who hasn’t been enormously impacted by the earthquake,” explained Peter Holz, medical director for the Samaritan’s Purse hospital in La Guaira. “But the people of Venezuela have an unbreakable spirit.”
Emergency Field Hospital staff are treating a number of patients injured as they searched rubble after the initial seismic events.
Carlos was grateful for the excellent treatment he received and the love he felt from the team. “The clinic, the care—there is no hospital like this in Venezuela because of the way they treat you here,” he said.
“God will provide for the families who have lost loved ones,” Carlos said. “We are going to rise from the ashes.”
Restoring Hope from the Ruins
In a nearby tent at the Samaritan’s Purse hospital, there was another man recovering from a similar injury. Like Carlos, his injury occurred while he was rescuing another from the rubble.
As Jose was helping with search and rescue after the quakes, one of a thousand aftershocks hit, injuring his leg. He was treated at our field hospital.
Jose had experienced many earthquakes in his 60 years, but when he felt the first earthquake hit at his home in Caracas, he quickly realised that it was stronger than anything he had faced previously. Fear filled him, but even as the earthquake intensified, Jose knew where to turn to for deliverance.
While his home continued to shake, Jose praised the Lord with his hands raised. “Thank You for watching over me and my family, because You say in your Word that You will take care of us.”
Jose and his entire family were on the 14th floor of their building, and even as the apartment, the furniture, and the walls shook, their home did not collapse. After the earthquake subsided, they knew that there were many who had lost everything.
Jose has 40 years of crisis response experience, beginning with his time in the military then as a police officer then as a first responder on rescue teams.
“The next day I told my children, who are active police officers, ‘Let’s go down and help.’ We are rescue veterans. I have taught my kids, and now, they are part of the police medical service,” Jose explained.
“What I love most to do is save people. I save lives, not take lives,” Jose said. The day after the earthquakes, Jose and his adult children were out with search-and-rescue teams, helping to save survivors trapped in the rubble and recover bodies so families can bury their loved ones properly.
“While we were doing that, there was an aftershock,” Jose said, “and during the aftershock, a wall shifted, and I pulled my leg hard and jammed it into another wall so I would not go down with the moving structure.”
Jose broke his knee, which led to his admittance to the Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital. There he received not just surgery, but encouragement from Christian brothers and sisters.
Becoming A Conduit for Christ’s Love
“Our goal is to show the love of Jesus to people that are in some of the lowest places of their lives. Medical care is just a conduit for us to show that love of Christ to people,” Peter Holz said.
From one angle, the Samaritan’s Purse response may look like a cluster of white medical tents, a water filtration system, or a truck of supplies, but from another perspective, it’s also a prayer of healing, a word of encouragement amid grief, and small acts of kindness.
“I love doing this work because I’ve been given so much in my life that I’m undeserving of and when I truly found the Lord, I had this deep desire to serve God and help others,” Holz said. Our entire team of dedicated medical professionals, builders, caregivers, WASH specialists, and others shares that desire as they bring comfort and hope to the people of Venezuela.
Samaritan’s Purse, alongside people like Carlos and Jose, continues to help in many ways. Even in Venezuela’s time of grief, the Lord is calling people to life through the Gospel. His work of restoration endures.
“Let us seek God, because God has an answer for many things that are yet to come,” Jose said. “My words are not going to bring back the dead, but the Lord is going to help us.”
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“And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in” (Isaiah 58:12, ESV).
Help Venezuelans in Need
is enough to provide four blankets for a family who lost their home in the earthquake.
can cover one outpatient visit at our Emergency Field Hospital.
makes a significant contribution towards a water filtration unit that supplies thousands of litres of clean water each day.
