How a son rescued his father from the rubble of Venezuela’s earthquakes
On June 24, two earthquakes ravaged Venezuela, killing thousands. This is the story of one man's fight to free his father from the rubble.
La Guaira, Venezuela – On the evening of June 24, Jose Garcia was at home with his wife and two younger sons. They shared an apartment on the second floor of the towering Ritasol Palace, eleven storeys of concrete and glass overlooking the turquoise coastline of Caraballeda, a seaside suburb of La Guaira. But in a moment, it all came crashing down.
At roughly 6:04pm local time, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake rumbled across the coastline, followed, within seconds, by an even more powerful quake. The entire edifice fell. Jose Garcia found himself no longer on the second floor — but instead buried in the basement of what had once been his building. Trapped next to him were his two boys, 7-year-old Diego and 12-year-old Santiago. “The worst thing that can happen to anyone is to be stuck like that,” said Jose, a 46-year-old car mechanic.
But an unexpected rescuer would arrive to help them survive what would become Venezuela's deadliest earthquake in more than a century.
"This, right here, this is my eldest son," Jose said tearfully, gesturing to 26-year-old Jesus Garcia, a muscular man with reflective sunglasses and a close-cropped beard. "He was one of the heroes who rescued me."
Jesus had been a local firefighter in La Guaira, but he left the force before the earthquake. One of his former colleagues, a family friend, had kept his helmet and jacket for him, just in case. They came in handy on the night of the earthquake.
As Jesus rushed to the ruins of the collapsed apartment building, he did not know whether his family had survived or perished. Nothing was certain. As of Sunday, more than 3,342 people have been confirmed dead, and the number is expected to continue rising. Bodies remain concealed in the debris.
Jesus remembers finding his family friend, the firefighter, at the scene when he reached what was once Ritasol Palace.