MIAMI (WSVN) - Many in South Florida’s Venezuelan community are concerned about loved ones back in their homeland following two strong earthquakes that rocked the nation on Wednesday night.
For Maria Suarez, who was in Venezuela when the earthquake struck, visits to her 96-year-old mother in Venezuela are extremely important to her.
“My plan is always to spend some time with her there so that she can relax and enjoy,” said Suarez.
While she was there, and on the phone with a friend from the states, she felt the ground shaking.
“I just think it’s going to go away, but as I think that the shaking was going to stop, it came back so fast and so hard,” said Suarez.
Suarez is from South Florida. She also has a condo in Venezuela for her precious visits to see her mom.
During the scary shaking, that condo was destroyed, and Suarez saw something that took her breath away.
“I see the wall falling, one of the walls falls on my mom. I thought it fell on my mom,” said Suarez.
She ran as quickly as possible to her mother.
“There was so many debris in the way to try and rescue her, and so I had to move the wall, but the thing was, there was a sofa, and there was a table, so the wall stuck there, and my mother was underneath of it,” said Suarez.
Both women were able to get out of the house safely.
Now, Suarez is trying to get out of ground zero as water, food, and gas are posing an issue.
“I’m trying to figure it out to go back to the other part of the country, where I can take my mom. But to be able to get there, I need to make sure I can get gas along the way,” said Suarez.
Although she is optimistic that things will get better for her and her mother, she reflects on those who share a different story.
“Yeah, I lost my condo, and it’s a total loss, and I will not recover that, I’m pretty sure. But what about those who didn’t have any other place, what about those who doesn’t have any money, what about those who doesn’t have anybody to help them, what about those who are just travel to find the remedy ” said Suarez.
For the time being, Suarez has her mother in a senior care center until she can make other arrangements.
For a list of other reputable resource organizations seeking donations, as well as websites registering those who have gone missing following the earthquakes in Venezuela, click here.
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