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Three days have passed and hope is fading: the authorities Venezuelan They already calculate a “hundred fatalities” of the biggest landslide in decades, in the town of Las Tejerías, with 39 bodies found and more than 50 missing, whose survival is ruled out.
LOOK: “The town was lost”: The desperate search for the disappeared after the landslide in Las Tejerías, Venezuela
“They have already rescued (…) 39 bodies,” President Nicolás Maduro said on state television VTV. “And there is still a significant number of disappeared: 56 disappeared. We are reaching almost a hundred fatal victims of this tragedy, this natural disaster.”
The flooding of a ravine this Saturday swept away homes, urban furniture, and flooded the streets of the town, destroying everything that the water found in its “Tejerías is going to be reborn from pain, from tragedy, from disaster and Tejerías will shine again in life, in peace. Going forward, Tejerías”, continued the president.
21 sectors flooded
15 companies affected.
Interrupted electrical system.
It is part of the previous balance offered by the governor of #Aragua @Soykarinacarpio,
Early this Sunday #9oct since #weaving pic.twitter.com/N2VoGpUMMY– Gregoria Díaz (@churuguara) October 9, 2022
Some 3,000 troops, including police, military and members of Civil Protection, coordinate efforts with neighbors to dig through the mass of mud, tree branches and rocks after an avalanche that devastated this mountainous town in Aragua state on Saturday (center) , after extensive and copious rains.
The agents agree, however, that they will “hardly” find survivors in this town of 50,000 inhabitants at the foot of the mountains.
“I don’t know whether to scream, I don’t know whether to run, I don’t know whether to cry,” Nathalie Matos, 34, told AFP, desperate to find her 65-year-old mother. “She was alone, she calls me and in her last call, because she made me three, she tells me: ‘Daughter, I’m drowning, the water got in, get me out… Get me out, get me out, get me out, save me, you won’t Can I!'”.
“I tried to call her back, she answered, but it was a noise,” he recalled.
Being in Tejerías leaves you speechless. People take what little they can and within the same community, they help each other to search for the many disappeared. Until 4pm, the official figures were 23 deceased: 15 women, 7 men and an 18-month-old baby. pic.twitter.com/r4ykCt3f3R
– Gabriela Gonzalez (@GabyGabyGG) October 9, 2022
There is very little information about what is happening in tejerias but what is happening is unfortunate.
The overflowing rivers have dragged cars, houses, but the losses are not only material, there are also children, adults who are swept away.
strong image pic.twitter.com/6xGD9Ac04I
– Fabricio Henríquez (@fabricioahm19) October 9, 2022
A rescue team is at the house, which is covered in mud. “The dog made signs here, in this area of what was the living room and in the kitchen, which coincides with the sign that the relative gave us,” said a firefighter at the scene with canine support.
About five companions dug with shovels, but they got nothing. “I know he’s here,” she insisted.
LOOK: Tragedy in Venezuela: more than 700 homes were destroyed by a landslide in Las Tejerías
A few meters away, another gang is on a piece of land where there used to be a house, which was swept away by the swollen river. Neighbors were trying to reconstruct the floor plan of the house to get an idea of where to look first.
And so, every so often, the searches continue.
“If they did not die from the blow of the branches and the stones that the river brings, they died of hypothermia,” an Aragua Civil Protection official told AFP who requested anonymity.
“One is guided by the smell (of decomposition), and today it smells in several houses,” adds a firefighter from the neighboring state of Carabobo.
– “Tejerías will be reborn” –
This year, Venezuela is experiencing an atypical rainy season, which has lasted practically the entire year due to the La Niña phenomenon, tropical waves and the aftermath of Hurricane Julia.
In Las Tejerías, for example, “it rained in eight hours what it rains for a month,” said Vice President Delcy Rodríguez on Sunday.
The flooding of the river, which was up to six meters in the structures closest to the riverbed, dragged trees, cars, light poles, telephone antennas and part of the houses, many built in risk areas.
Maduro, who decreed three days of national mourning, toured the disaster zone on Monday.
The landslide in Las Tejerías is the worst natural disaster in Venezuela so far this century. In 1999, a large landslide in Vargas state (north) killed some 10,000 people.
In the last three weeks, another 13 people have died in different regions of the country, also as a result of heavy rains.
The government has installed shelters in Maracay, capital of Aragua, and also announced the distribution of 300 tons of food. Collection centers were also installed throughout the country to collect donations.
Source: Elcomercio
I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.
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