In brief
When twin quakes struck Venezuela on 24 June, the power of collapse left Karina Blanco’s daughter Fabiana trapped beneath the rubble of their building for 32 harrowing hours. With the help of a volunteer and extraordinary community effort, Fabiana was located and rescued amid darkness and danger. Though scarred by shock and small injuries, the twelve‑year‑old fights to recover alongside her family, who mourn the loss of others yet cling to hope for a brighter future.
A 32‑hour ordeal in the rubble turns into a story of hope, as a Venezuelan girl survives a 7.5‑magnitude quake
The world was shaken on 24 June when twin seismic events struck Venezuela. The second shock, a 7.5‑magnituded quake, ripped through the northern coastal town of Caraballeda, leaving a high‑rise building in splintered ruin. For Karina Blanco, a middle‑school instructor, the tremor was the beginning of a twelve‑hour nightmare that stretched into a 32‑hour fight for survival.
I saw things shaking, falling, breaking … I thought, I’ll die. No one will rescue me.
‑Fabiana Blanco
Inside the collapsed structure, Fabiana was pinned face‑up against the ceiling. Around her, dust and broken concrete shimmered in the dim light, blocking any clear view. Though fear and claustrophobia twisted in her mind, an unworldly calm settled over her. The only things keeping her from slipping into unconsciousness were a small bottle of ketchup and a handful of grated cheese she found hidden in the debris, according to her account.
While Venezuelan firefighters reached the site around midnight, they could not locate Fabiana. It wasn’t until a volunteer, later named Viktor, climbed the rubble to shout for her that she heard a voice echo back, and began to call her mother. A makeshift conversation in the dark held their hope together.
Karina, upon learning survived, ran to the remains of the building, screaming her daughter’s name into the void, a desperate plea that resonated across the scattered clusters of rubble. With the aid of motorcycles, a civic group, and volunteer hands, rescuers began to excavate a tunnel large enough to reach Fabiana.
Around 2:00 a.m., after nearly a day of burying, the manhole opened to a corridor where Fabiana finally emerged, eyes wide and breathless, clutching the rope of her saviors. The moment was captured in a beaming video that now circulates across Venezuela, a testament to community resilience and the strength of human will.
Despite fractures in her left foot and a number of scrapes, the girl remains free of serious physical injury. She currently resides with her grandmother as her family mourns the loss of forty‑something residents who did not surface from the other buildings of the high‑rise. “It will take us a while to recover. But we will move on,” says Karina, her voice steady with the belief that, in the end, the families will rebuild.
