"I Couldn't Sleep a Wink, Fearing Buildings Would Collapse from 30 Aftershocks"

▲ Powerful Earthquake in Venezuela

"I was terrified that my house would collapse. My mother, my daughter, and I couldn't go back inside after the earthquake, even though it was cold. We couldn't sleep a wink all night."

Residents had to spend a sleepless night following the earthquake that struck Venezuela on the afternoon of June 24 (local time).

This was because the fear overwhelmed the suffering from the cold and sleeplessness, as a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of over 7.0 lasted for 39 seconds, followed by more than 30 aftershocks.

Maria Cristina Diaz, a resident of Caracas, expressed her relief in an interview with the AP on the morning of June 25, saying that although she spent the night in cold and fear, "It was a horrible time, and we all cried, but thankfully we survived."

The number of casualties from the consecutive powerful earthquakes that occurred the previous day has already surpassed 1,000.

So far, Venezuelan authorities have confirmed 164 deaths.

However, with 971 people injured, the death toll is highly likely to rise.

Venezuela is one of the regions prone to frequent earthquakes.

Large earthquakes typically occur at well-known active plate boundaries where stress has accumulated over decades or centuries, and Venezuela is situated on the boundary where the Caribbean and South American plates meet.

Historically, a massive earthquake in Caracas in 1812 killed between 15,000 to 30,000 people, and in 1900, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake collapsed about 300 buildings.

In relatively recent history, the 1967 Caracas earthquake killed 236 people, and the 1997 Cariaco earthquake in the northeast killed 73 people.

The New York Times (NYT) pointed out that although several major earthquakes have devastated Venezuela in the past, buildings were often not properly equipped with seismic-resistant designs.

The report noted that the paralysis of the economic system due to a severe recession and Western economic sanctions left aging infrastructure neglected, which contributed to the scale of the damage from this earthquake.

According to United Nations estimates, more than 100 buildings were destroyed in La Guaira State alone, which is known to have suffered the heaviest damage.

Many of the collapsed buildings were reportedly not modern structures with closely woven steel rebars inside concrete, but rather houses built simply by stacking bricks or using dried mud blocks.

While such houses can withstand downward weight well, they are often vulnerable to lateral shaking forces like those of an earthquake.

This is why critics point out that while the two powerful earthquakes were a natural disaster, the collapse of so many buildings so easily was largely a man-made disaster resulting from the vacuum in the state system.

In particular, concerns are growing over potential widespread casualties among the urban poor living on the slopes surrounding the metropolitan basin like a folding screen.

As the damage is expected to snowball, the UN urged the international community for help, emphasizing that "a massive effort is needed" for Venezuela to recover and normalize after the earthquake.

Tom Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said in a statement that they are fully prepared and operational to help the Venezuelan people, adding, "A massive, joint effort will be needed over the coming months to support the government-led response and help communities."

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)

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