Venezuelan communities across the United States sprang into action Thursday, organizing donation drives after a pair of catastrophic earthquakes tore through their home country, leaving at least 188 people dead and hundreds more injured.
Oscar Torres, along with thousands of others, spent the past 24 hours glued to a WhatsApp group that keeps Venezuelan expatriates connected with their families back home. Torres lives in Doral, Florida — a city just outside Miami that holds the largest concentration of Venezuelans in the entire country.
“Already this morning, I was looking at the group in Doral and everybody’s pitching in — money, medicine, water. First, necessity items,” said Torres, a sales manager who relocated from Venezuela to the U.S. back in 1995. “They’re talking about making the first shipment ASAP.”
The back-to-back quakes — measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude — struck Wednesday night and caused significant destruction to Venezuela’s primary airport in the capital city of Caracas. That damage could seriously delay getting emergency supplies into the country. The two earthquakes rank among the most powerful Venezuela has experienced in over 100 years.
Images from the disaster zone showed injured children, animals, and civilians covered in dust and blood being pulled from the wreckage of collapsed concrete structures.
Beyond the confirmed dead and injured, thousands of additional people are unaccounted for, leaving relatives living in the U.S. frantically trying to get updates. More than 770,000 Venezuelans currently reside in the United States, with large populations concentrated in Florida, Texas, and Utah.
In the Houston area, which is home to a sizeable Venezuelan community, residents turned to Facebook groups and other social media platforms to spread the word about local drop-off locations for donations. Items in high demand include first aid and medical supplies such as gauze, bandages, antiseptics, disposable gloves, face masks, syringes, thermometers, and blood pressure monitors.
Many of the collection sites are located in Katy, a suburb roughly 30 miles west of downtown Houston that has earned the nickname “Katyzuela” due to its high number of Venezuelan residents. Local resident Daniel Arenas translated a Spanish-language social media post into English and shared it Thursday on his LinkedIn page in hopes of reaching donors across the greater Houston area.
“I came to this country ten years ago, built a life here, but my heart is still in Venezuela,” Arenas said. “It’s devastating what’s happening over there. They don’t have the resources to handle this.”
Arenas, who works as a maritime industry consultant, said his wife has been deeply worried about her aunt, who lives in a high-rise apartment in Caracas. The aunt sent a distressed message on WhatsApp shortly after the earthquakes struck.
“She was crying and screaming and saying she was in pain but not sure from where,” Arenas recalled. “She said she lost everything. She was desperate.”
Arenas said his wife was eventually able to make contact with her aunt.
Back in Florida, local officials in Doral and various advocacy organizations used social media and press conferences to call on the public to contribute aid.
Torres said he plans to donate money to the relief efforts. He still has uncles and cousins living in Caracas and Valencia, another Venezuelan city that suffered heavy damage. He said some of his relatives were hurt while evacuating buildings during the quakes.
“Their homes are destroyed and a few buildings have collapsed,” Torres said. “Thankfully, I don’t know anyone who passed away.”
