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Orlando families await news as earthquakes devastate Venezuela
An Orlando mother is living every parent's worst nightmare tonight as she desperately awaits news of her 19-year-old daughter following two massive earthquakes that devastated northern Venezuela.
ORLANDO, Fla. - An Orlando mother is living every parent's worst nightmare tonight as she desperately awaits news of her 19-year-old daughter following two massive earthquakes that devastated northern Venezuela.
According to the United Nations, the disaster has claimed at least 188 lives and injured more than 940 others.
The backstory:
The coastal city of La Guaira saw some of the most severe destruction, leaving families both locally and abroad completely disconnected from their loved ones.
Maria Rodriguez, who lives in Orlando, says she was on the phone with her daughter, Valera Daza, when the disaster struck.
"We were talking on the phone... And at that moment she started telling me, ‘Mom, it’s shaking,’" Rodriguez recalled through tears. "I said, ‘Sweetheart, sweetheart, get under something, under a column.’ After that, there were no more calls, nothing."
Rodriguez has not heard from or been able to contact her daughter since yesterday at 6:03 p.m.
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"I kept trying to text her and nothing. And since yesterday, at 6:03 p.m., until this moment, I still don’t know anything about my daughter," she said.
Her brothers visited the area on Thursday to search for Valera, describing a horrific scene where rescue workers are forced to dig through heavy concrete debris with nothing but shovels because heavy machinery is completely unavailable.
"[My brothers] say that you can't do the job of removing debris either because they are very strong, and they need machines that don't exist right now... and you can hear people screaming."
Moved by the desperation gripping their homeland, members of the Central Florida Venezuelan community are refusing to sit idly by. At Work Color Signs on Distribution Court in Orlando, owner Youser Romero has opened his doors to serve as a drop-off site for emergency relief.
"Our people don’t have electricity, no food, it's difficult, so now we are opening our doors," said Romero.
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Family, friends, and neighbors are collecting goods.
"Water, food, clothes, food for the dogs, medicine—this is what they need most," said Ivonne Jimenez, volunteer.
"Some of [my family] had to go elsewhere to be safer because the buildings were damaged, and there are friends we are still looking for," said Maria Albornoz, an Orlando resident donating supplies.
"If you can't donate stuff… like toys… you can pray for Venezuela, please do," said Miguel Romero, a young Central Florida resident.
The collected supplies will be driven down to Miami, where ocean freight companies have partnered to ship the aid directly to the Central University of Venezuela for distribution.
What's next:
The relief drive at Work Color Signs in Orlando is ongoing. Organizers are urgently asking the public for donations of water, non-perishable food, clothing, pet food, and medical supplies to fill the upcoming shipments bound for Venezuela.
On the diplomatic front, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced today that American search and rescue teams have officially been deployed to Venezuela to assist local authorities in locating survivors trapped beneath the rubble.
The Source: This story was written based on reporting by the Associated Press and interviews with Maria Rodriguez, Youser Romero, Maria Albornoz, Ivonne Jimenez, and Miguel Romero.