MARACAIBO, Venezuela, July 29 - Weeks after the twin earthquakes that devastated the central coast of Venezuela, families are leaving the hardest-hit areas in search of places where aftershocks are less frequent and the immediate fear of collapse is reduced.
Adriana Aponte, 26, moved from La Guaira to the oil-producing city of Maracaibo with her three children following the June 24 double-quake, which registered magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5. The quakes killed at least 5,500 people and left roughly 23,800 people living in makeshift tent camps. The catastrophe has also prompted internal displacement, sending survivors from the ruined coastal region into economically strained western states such as Zulia.
"The fear will always be there, haunting you," Aponte said, describing the emotional toll that followed her family from the coast. "Sometimes you’d like to forget." She and her children left La Guaira because they wanted to be in a city free from the fear of constant aftershocks. The quakes reduced hundreds of buildings and homes to rubble in that area.
Aponte said her own house did not completely collapse, but a bedroom wall fell, splitting the room in half. When they decided to leave, a relative provided 50,000 bolivars (about $67) to cover the cost of their trip to Maracaibo, where they have family to stay with temporarily.
Now living in a modest two-story brick home with a simple zinc roof, Aponte and her family are cleaning away weeds and rubbish around the property. In the small living room, she said she and her children - ages 1, 4 and 10 - feel safer in Maracaibo, and she expressed hope that the situation is temporary while they wait for government-provided permanent housing.
Even as safety improves for her immediate household, Aponte said she carries regrets about leaving relatives behind. "Part of me feels bad because my dad and my sisters are still back in La Guaira," she said.
The movement of survivors like Aponte underscores the broader challenges facing displaced households: finding temporary shelter in places with fewer aftershocks, relying on family networks and limited financial assistance for relocation, and awaiting official housing solutions in the aftermath of a disaster that caused widespread destruction and loss of life.