‘I consider it a miracle’: Pregnant woman pulled from post-quake rubble in Venezuela
“I saw the building collapse, floor by floor. You could hear people screaming and calling for help,” said Roberto Rodríguez, 24, who survived two catastrophic earthquakes of magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 that struck the central-northern region of Venezuela on 24 June.Having just returned home, he had yet to reach his apartment.“Bricks and pieces of debris started falling on me. I took off running, saw other people and shouted, ‘run, run!’ At that very moment, the entire building came crashing down,” he said.Pinned down in the rubble“My partner was trapped under the rubble,” Mr. Rodríguez said. “She was pinned down from her feet downward, and the neighbours immediately began helping to get her out. It took us about two hours to free her.”Although Dayra Morales, 20, was found and treated for her injuries, both Mr. Rodríguez’s father and young sister died in the disaster.Almost 5,000 people have been killed and over 16,000 injured, while thousands still remain unaccounted for and an estimated 18,000 people have lost their homes, with temporary shelters set up for those displaced.Hope amid turmoilMr. Rodríguez and Ms. Morales are currently staying at one set up at the José María Vargas sports complex along with over 1,000 other displaced people. Having received medical care and health and sanitary supplies from the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, Ms. Morales also got a welcome surprise.“While we were here, on 2 July, my father’s birthday, we found out through my partner’s medical examinations that she is pregnant,” said Mr. Rodríguez.“Nothing happened to the baby, even after she fell from the sixth floor of a 12-story building and was trapped from the waist down under so much rubble. I consider it a true miracle.”
