Devastation, grief and hope: What we saw in Venezuela after the deadly earthquake

The stench in the Venezuelan coastal community of La Guaira is something that is impossible to forget, even a week after returning to the United States. It was a wonderful combination of rubble, smoke and death.

The twin earthquakes that rocked Venezuela within a minute late last month led to massive levels of destruction, leveling all areas of La Guaira, a city known for its ports and beaches but which resembled a war zone during our visit. The earthquake also caused massive casualties, killing and maiming thousands of Venezuelans, leading to tens of thousands of reported disappearances and the displacement of many others.

We saw residents of La Guaira using their hands to remove debris and construction materials from dilapidated buildings, trapping many inside. Together with the rescuers, they looked for any signs of life. The sound of shovels, jackhammers and other machinery has been interrupted from time to time as rescuers plead for silence in the hope of finding a tap or movement of those trapped in the rubble.

To this day, a number of unidentified bodies are still buried in the rubble mounds scattered across La Guaira, where the devastation caused by the earthquake was concentrated. The official death toll, which stands at nearly 4,000 people, will likely continue to rise. At one point, the United Nations estimated that more than 50,000 Venezuelans were missing. The search and rescue work we have seen, carried out by rescuers from all over the world, including teams from the US, has greatly opened the door to rescue attempts.

CBS News was the first American broadcast network to report from La Guaira, beginning our coverage there two days after the earthquake of June 24. We had to fly to Panama City, where we boarded a plane to a small airport in Valencia, the third largest city in Venezuela, because the country's main airport near Caracas was badly damaged by the earthquake.

During the week-long reporting trip, we drove to La Guaira almost every day. In normal times, going there from Caracas takes about half an hour. But our first trip to La Guaira took hours, as Venezuelans filled the highway to deliver water, food and other supplies to those affected by the earthquake. We didn't make it in time to send our “CBS Evening News” report that Friday. The next trip was short and tumultuous, after Venezuelan authorities restricted access to La Guaira. What surprised us was that we were never banned from going there to report the damage.

The strong smell in La Guaira is not the only thing that is hard to forget. What sticks in my mind is the immeasurable human suffering we saw there. We met and spoke with Venezuelans who had lost their children, siblings and other relatives, including a mother who miraculously survived when her building collapsed. His 12-year-old son did not.

Outside a hospital in Caracas, where we saw desperate families looking through patient lists for their loved ones, we met a woman who was bringing soup to her 6-year-old niece, who had been hospitalized. While she survived, her mother, the woman's sister, did not. On the outskirts of La Guaira, we interviewed a Venezuelan firefighter who, due to the lack of heavy equipment, was unable to remove the bodies from the collapsed building so that the loved ones of the victims could bury them.

In the camp for people displaced by the earthquake, we met a grandmother and mother who had lost their home in La Guaira. Inside the tent where she slept with her son, she asked for help and a permanent home, calling her situation “dangerous.” We saw a number of tents inside the camp, a relatively organized activity in the middle of a public park in Caracas.

But amidst the massive devastation, mass destruction and crushing despair, we once again saw a glimmer of hope. In the tent camp, we saw children playing football, seemingly far removed from the painful situations that took away their families.

Outside the McDonald's restaurant in La Guaira, volunteer veterinarians have set up a temporary veterinary clinic for dogs, cats and other pets injured or left without owners by the successive earthquakes. With few tools but an incredible drive to save animals, they describe their work as “war medicine.”

Despite the Venezuelan government's efforts to discredit the US in recent decades, we have found Venezuelans who have accepted – and in some cases, even asked for – American help. The earthquake occurred six months after the US military arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to face criminal charges in the US, leaving in place his vice president, who has worked closely with the Trump administration.

The American search and rescue team included three-year-old Zilla, one of 23 highly trained American dogs sent to Venezuela. We saw him inspecting buildings, sniffing for signs of life, and a few days later he found a family of three trapped in the rubble. The father was dead, but his wife and son were rescued alive.

We also saw dozens of rescue teams the rest countries on the ground in Venezuela, both official delegations and volunteer groups. We met rescuers from Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, France, Mexico, Portugal, Vietnam and other nations. We saw them working with the residents of La Guaira to search for their neighbors and loved ones.

In fact, it was a group of rescuers from several countries, especially El Salvador, Chile, Costa Rica, Portugal and the US, who saved Hernan Gil Flores, a guard who was trapped inside the building, under tons of concrete, for eight days.

“This is a miracle,” his wife told us outside the building. “It's an indescribable thing.”