▲ The scene of the earthquake in Venezuela
"Thank you so much for worrying about us (Gracias por tu preocupacion)."
"Sending greetings from Venezuela with a warm embrace from afar (Palabras Gracias desde Venezuela un abrazo desde la distancia)."
A video posted by a dessert cafe owner in Jeju for the people of Venezuela, who have suffered significant damage from a series of powerful earthquakes, is bringing quiet inspiration to netizens on the other side of the globe.
This comes as Venezuelan viewers are responding with an outpouring of heartfelt gratitude.
Yeom (45), who has been running a dessert cafe in Aewol-eup, Jeju, for seven years, has been sharing his cafe preparations and daily life through TikTok live streams for the past month and a half.
His live stream followers included many foreigners interested in K-culture from countries such as Indonesia, Costa Rica, Peru, and Argentina.
Among them were regular Venezuelan followers who would always leave comments saying, "Greetings from Venezuela (Saludos desde Venezuela)."
However, around 10:00 a.m. on June 25, when Yeom turned on his live stream as usual, he sensed something was wrong.
Not a single one of the Venezuelan viewers who usually greeted him was present.
After hurriedly checking the news, Yeom learned of the tragic event.
On June 24 (local time), a series of powerful earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 struck near Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, completely paralyzing local power and communication networks.
The earthquake was the largest in 125 years, and the death toll had already exceeded 1,900.
Worried about the safety of his friends across the screen, Yeom could not continue his broadcast with his usual smile.
He immediately used a translator and artificial intelligence (AI) to draft a script in broken Spanish.
That afternoon, he posted a 29-second short video on his cafe's account titled, "For my friends from Venezuela."
"I am worried because I haven't seen you since the earthquake today. I sincerely hope that you and your families are safe (Hoy, despues del terremoto, no los veo, y estoy preocupado por ustedes. Espero con todo mi corazon que ustedes y sus familias esten bien)."
The video featured Spanish subtitles conveying Yeom's earnest heart.
Around midnight on June 26, about seven hours after Yeom posted the video, something incredible happened.
As communication was gradually restored, comments from local Venezuelan users began to pour in explosively.
Comments of gratitude, such as "Thank you so much for your concern (muchas gracias por tu preocupacion)" and "Thank you for your support, God bless you (Gracias por su apoyo, Dios te bendiga)," were posted at a rate of one per second, much like a live chat.
The number of comments on the video, which averaged around five just a day earlier, instantly surged to over 4,500.
That is a 900-fold increase.
The video surpassed 197,000 views and recorded over 48,000 'likes.'
Yeom attributed this passionate response to the unique Latin American culture of expressing emotions honestly and actively, as well as the TikTok algorithm.
"You could feel the sincerity in the comments, enough to know they weren't written mechanically by AI," he said. "It seems the video reached Venezuelans after it coincidentally caught the algorithm."
The inspiration did not stop in Venezuela but spread to netizens around the world.
An Indonesian netizen ('rum') who saw the photo of Yeom's donation for emergency relief in Venezuela commented, "I am moved by your actions toward the people of Venezuela. May God bless your good deeds."
Another netizen living in Peru sent a message of solidarity, saying, "Thank you sincerely for worrying about and comforting the disaster that my relatives in Venezuela are experiencing."
Yeom said that he realized the 'power of solidarity' once again through this experience.
"Seeing people I communicated with daily respond to my inquiry about their safety and tell me that it was a comfort to them, I felt that even a small gesture can be a great strength to someone," he said. "I hope to meet the viewers of the video in person in Venezuela once the situation there is restored."
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