CARABALLEDA, Venezuela (AP) — Hope came in the strangest of places: A Venezuela McDonald’s.Gabriela Alves found herself embracing her 6-year-old dog Buddy on Thursday in the fast-food outlet after a week of searching for the white pup that went missing when two earthquakes devastated the South American nation on June 24.The restaurant, next to the ruins of collapsed state housing complexes, has become a de facto hospital for earthquake victims, as well as a center for locating and treating missing pets in the seaside city of Caraballeda, which was devastated by the natural disaster. Neighbors call it “Hospital McDonald’s.”“This is a miracle,” Alves said, arms wrapped around the dog with an IV in one of his legs on a table next to restaurant workers selling soft-serve ice cream. “We’ve lost everything material, but at least we’re both alive.”
The makeshift hospital was born one day after the back-to-back earthquakes killed at least than 2,295 people and wounded 11,000, according to Venezuelan officials. Many more families were left scrambling to find their missing loved ones, including cats and dogs lost in the rubble.
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