LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — A month has passed since earthquakes shook Venezuela and killed thousands, but the state of La Guaira still feels like a distant memory.Subscribe to read this story ad-freeGet unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Walking through a residential area is like passing through a graveyard of buildings you no longer recognize, even if you’ve lived there for years.
And then there’s another reality affecting the state: the displaced.Hundreds of people are now living in donated tents after losing their homes.Add NBC News to GoogleOne month since dual earthquakes rocked Venezuela09:25Some still hope the government will help them recover what they’ve lost.
Others just want someone to tell them their house can be habitable again.This is the case at the Brisas de Maiquetía housing development, located directly across from the international airport serving Caracas.It’s a residential complex built under the Great Housing Mission, the state program created by the late President Hugo Chávez in 2011 to provide social housing to low-income individuals and disaster victims.Upon entering, one observes a sea of white and blue tarps beneath the once habitable buildings.Ray Cazorla, a local resident who has lived there for almost 16 years, says the situation is getting worse every day and that the help that has arrived is extremely scarce.“International aid is not being allowed to pass through here or it is not actually arriving [...] I saw publications showing a truck here with international boxes that were never delivered, it was a lie,” Cazorla told Noticias Telemundo.The problem intensifies upon entering the tents.
The heat, humidity, and steam make it impossible to stay inside.“We barely manage to survive like this.
We survive thanks to fans that we had to connect to the power poles, with wiring that we installed ourselves,” Cazorla added.Previously, residents slept in tents outside the housing complex, but when...