They arrived with rescue dogs, sophisticated listening devices and cutting tools that can rip through concrete.
On Sunday, the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s international urban search and rescue team descended on a collapsed 10-story high-rise in Caraballeda, a coastal town devastated by Venezuela’s back-to-back earthquakes, as part of the scramble to find survivors.
Residents told authorities they believed eight people were trapped in the enormous pile of debris, said Assistant Fire Chief Trey Espy, who was on the scene. Rescue workers heard noises that raised the possibility that someone underneath was still alive, Espy told The Times.
The prospects for rescuing survivors have been diminishing with each day that has passed since the twin quakes — one magnitude 7.5, the other 7.2 — struck Venezuela, leaving nearly 1,500 people dead and tens of thousands missing.
Members of the L.A. County international urban search and rescue team work inside a collapsed building in Catia La Mar, La Guaira state, Venezuela, Sunday.
(Carlos Becerra/For The Times)
Espy described the situation as “very grim,” with many high-rises leveled or pancaked in the tourist destination.
“Everywhere you look, everything’s collapsed or shifted off its foundation,” he said. “Some are completely destroyed. Some buildings have fallen into other buildings.”
While L.A. County’s rescue team carried out its work, Southern Californians mobilized to gather much-needed supplies, while also seeking answers about missing loved ones.
In Pasadena, volunteers at the restaurant Chamo Venezuelan Cuisine collected supplies, issuing a special plea for bandages, gauze, painkillers and other over-the-counter medicines.
Augusto Giancola, who was helping with the effort, said three to four people had been showing up each hour with “trunks full of stuff.”
“There’s a sense of despair,” the Pasadena resident said. “But we are a very hopeful people. It’s more about what we can do at this point, figuring out how we can help.”
In downtown Los Angeles, dozens of volunteers collected donations on the sidewalk outside the Venezuelan restaurant Full Arepas. Volunteers organized the supplies — toothbrushes, baby wipes, instant soup and many other items — and loaded them into boxes, drawing hearts on the outside with magic marker.
Volunteers gather donations on the sidewalk outside the Venezuelan restaurant Full Arepa in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday.
(David Zahniser / Los Angeles Times)
By midafternoon, a U-haul truck next to the restaurant was filled with donations.
Kelly Montano, who owns Full Arepas, said members of her own family — her father, mother, a cousin and several others — had been missing since the quakes. Organizing the relief effort and running the business have been keeping her strong as she waits for word about her family, she said.
“It’s hard,” said Montano, who came to the U.S. in 2015. “It’s hard, and I don’t know what’s happening now.”
By the end of the afternoon, L.A. County rescue workers in Venezuela had begun work at another 10-story building — this one partially collapsed — where a guard was trapped in the security booth of an underground parking garage.
Rescue workers stand on collapsed buildings in Caraballeda, Venezuela, on Sunday.
(Miguel Medina / Pool / AFP via AP)
A Los Angeles County Fire Department search and rescue team member who gave his name as Felix passes a partially collapsed building in Catia La Mar, La Guaira state, Venezuela, Sunday.
(Carlos Becerra/For The Times)
The team had begun cutting concrete and steel to get to the man, who could be heard but not seen, Espy said.
“We’re about 30 feet from him,” he said. “It’s going to take us 12 hours, maybe more, before we have him free.”
The county’s rescue team features not just firefighters and paramedics but also doctors from the Department of Health Services and structural engineers trained to assess heavily damaged buildings, Espy said.
Los Angeles County Fire Department search and rescue team members work inside a collapsed building in Catia La Mar, La Guaira state, Venezuela, Sunday.
(Carlos Becerra/For The Times)
The team, known as USA-2, is in Venezuela along with USA-1, which is made up of fire department rescue workers from Virginia’s Fairfax County.
Espy said rescue workers from USA-1 had pulled three survivors from the debris, including a 9-month-old baby. The U.S. State Department, which activated the international rescue operation, heralded that success.
“Against impossible odds, hope endures,” the agency said in a social media post.
