‘We hugged and ran’: Venezuelans tell of earthquake | Stories About Earthquakes

Scenes of panic, house collapses and rare rescues are what Venezuelans are describing 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes which struck the country within seconds of each other.

Caracas was one of those players critical areas Wednesday as rescue teams search through the ruins of collapsed buildings and thousands of people are feared dead.

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Government officials have declared a state of emergency, suspended classes, closed the country’s main airport and urged medical workers to report to hospitals.

Jesus Alejandro Pina, a 38-year-old engineer in Caracas, said he was at the top of a seven-story building when the earthquakes began.

“It was very powerful,” he told Al Jazeera. “I don’t know how long it took, but it was like a minute.”

Glass was breaking, pictures were falling, and so was the television. Everything was falling apart.

As an engineer, Pina understood what was happening in the building when it was shaking.

“The movement of the pillars and columns helps to absorb the energy,” he said. But if it goes on for a long time, it can get very serious.

After the tremors subsided, thousands of panic-stricken people ran into the streets and faced terrible and devastating events.

Everyone was in the streets, in the squares, outside their houses. There were many casualties. Firefighters and paramedics were pulling people out from under the rubble,” said Pina.

“Here it is midnight, and everyone is awake, they are outside their houses and watching the news, and they are alert because it is said that there are many earthquakes that have happened since.”

A moment of panic

For 25-year-old Luis Alejandro Ruiz Garcia, from the Caracas El Paraiso neighborhood, the earthquakes happened in a matter of seconds.

A Google earthquake alert appeared on Ruiz Garcia’s phone moments before his home shook.

He said: “My mother and sister who were with me got up from their bed in a panic. We hugged each other and, as soon as we could, we got down and out of my house as fast as we could.”

Outside, he said, orange dust filled the air after the apartment building collapsed three blocks from his home.

“We waited 10 minutes and then came back to get the documents and clothes before we left.”

When he went to see his grandmother, Ruiz Garcia found the streets full of people looking for relatives and trying to help neighbors escape from destroyed houses.

He said: “The house on the other side of the road was destroyed.

Elderly people who live alone after their sons and daughters emigrated from Venezuela due to the country’s economic crisis have been left alone and stuttering.

As rescuers worked through the night, the extent of the accident was not yet known.

At least 32 people were confirmed dead, according to Venezuelan officials, but officials warned that the death toll could rise as search and rescue teams continued their efforts.

The United States Geological Survey says there is a 44 percent chance of more than 10,000 deaths and a 33 percent chance of more than 100,000 deaths.

Communications were disrupted in several areas, leaving many families unable to contact relatives and presenting another challenge to officials trying to assess the progress of the disaster.