A 44-year-old security guard, Hernan Alberto Gil, was rescued alive from the rubble of the collapsed Galerias Playa Grande shopping centre in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, on Thursday, almost eight days after twin earthquakes devastated the country's northern coast. The dramatic rescue offered a rare moment of hope amid the disaster.
Rescue Operation Details
Gil had been trapped since two powerful earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5, struck less than a minute apart last week. The rescue operation, led by search and rescue teams from El Salvador and Chile, began on Monday and lasted approximately 70 hours. Rescuers managed to keep Gil alive by supplying water through tubing while carefully excavating two separate tunnels to reach him due to the unstable structure.
He was carried from the rubble on a stretcher to applause from rescuers and onlookers before being taken away by ambulance. Chile's firefighting service reported that he was in good condition.
International Collaboration
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele stated that the rescue was made possible through the combined efforts of teams from Chile, the United States, Portugal, Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and El Salvador. These teams worked together to remove debris, stabilise the damaged building, and create a safe route to the trapped survivor.
Casualties and Missing
The earthquakes have claimed 2,295 lives, according to government figures released on Wednesday, while thousands remain unaccounted for. An unofficial but widely used online register listed about 38,600 people as still missing on Thursday, down from nearly 60,000 in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. A United Nations envoy said this week that 10,000 body bags were being procured for Venezuela, while the US Geological Survey estimated that the eventual death toll could exceed 10,000.
Civilian-Led Relief Efforts
Despite a heavy security presence in the affected areas, much of the rescue and relief effort has been driven by civilians, many of them volunteers. Residents have spent days digging through collapsed buildings with shovels, pickaxes, and their bare hands alongside firefighters, civil protection personnel, foreign rescue teams, and medical volunteers. While some international teams, including those from Germany and Switzerland, have completed their missions, rescuers from more than a dozen countries remain in Venezuela as the search for survivors continues.
