LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Venezuelan officials say at least 1,450 people were killed by two powerful earthquakes last week. Throughout the most affected areas, rescue crews and families are still digging through rubble hoping for a miracle. NPR's Eyder Peralta reports on the search for the missing.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).
EYDER PERALTA, HOST:
As soon as rescue crews suspect life, they rush into action. Most of them are just volunteers in hi-vis vests and jeans and t-shirts.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONCRETE BEING BROKEN)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: Before them is what used to be a 12-story building. When the earthquakes shook, the whole structure slipped from its foundation and the floors crumbled on top of each other. The rescuers break concrete. They try to cut a metal gate with a handheld saw, and then someone hears something.
Telling everybody to be quiet and silent.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: The motorcycles turn off their engines. The workers put down their hammers, and one of them three stories up screams into the large void in the middle of the rubble.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "We're the rescue crew. If you're alive, make some noise."
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "They've identified someone," a man says. "They've heard something. They've heard something here."
(SOUNDBITE OF TRUCK ENGINE STARTING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: And they rush back to work, trying to remove the metal gate by tying it to a truck.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE REVVING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: Jesus Javier Fajardo came from Maracaibo to help with the rescue effort. He says these moments of hope can also be difficult. The day before in a building down the road, they thought they heard calls for help.
JESUS JAVIER FAJARDO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: Three people put their ears to the ground and they heard moans of pain, but they couldn't reach them. In another building, they found a woman pinned by a concrete slab.
FAJARDO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "I gave her water. We had a conversation."
FAJARDO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "We were there for two or three hours."
FAJARDO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "But we couldn't release her, and she died."
This is a scene that repeats itself across a wide swath of Venezuela's northern coast. Dozens of other countries have sent rescue crews to Venezuela, and the government has deployed the military and other security forces to help, but it's just not enough. And as the hours go by, the hopeful noises coming from the buildings begin to dim. The whole coast starts smelling of death.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONCRETE AND GLASS BREAKING)
PERALTA: The Bello Horizonte used to be a 16-story building that faced the Caribbean. Jaylou Davila and Mariana Zambrano sat on a curb staring at the rubble. Their sister and her son were on the 14th floor.
JAYLOU DAVILA: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "Yesterday," said Davila, "a rescue crew came, looked and said this was too much, too dangerous for them."
MARIANA ZAMBRANO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "But it's our family members who are in there," says Zambrano, "so we don't care if this is risky."
Davila lowers her gaze. They haven't heard any noises coming from the building today. What they need, she says, is heavy equipment.
DAVILA: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "They say if they use heavy equipment, the bodies can be mutilated."
DAVILA: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "But at this point, what are we going to find? We at least need their bodies."
The heat, the dust, the dying hope, however, don't stop families. They still climb through the rubble. They use mallets to break the concrete. They use hand saws to cut through five-inch rebars. They stop listening for sounds and are instead guided by the smell of death. And as they dig, the authorities do arrive.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: They're no longer looking for survivors, though, only for bodies to recover. Eyder Peralta, NPR News, La Guaira, Venezuela. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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