First the earthquake hit, then the explosion: the double tragedy of Playa Grande in Venezuela

Seconds after the earthquake, a gas tank that should have been empty had a leak and exploded. It caused a large fire and people who were trapped were charred to death. Neighbors claim that the fire stopped devouring apartments when I had nothing more to consume. The firefighters, who were focused on the earthquake, did not come. Today, more than a week after the tragedy, they assure that They received no assistance.

In August 2012, and with a speech of just over 15 minutes from Playa Grande, former president Hugo Chávez Frías inaugurated a set of 67 buildingswith 1,072 apartments in what he called “the housing revolution.”

The former president thanked the Turkish company Summa for the “technology, materials and machinery” for the execution of that section of the “Great Housing Mission.” Many residents call the neighborhood “The Great Summa Community”, after the Turkish construction company that built the development.

They were houses of dry construction, three stories. All were destroyed by the two earthquakes. In some cases they gave way to one side, in others they fell completely. You can see the aluminum supports that contain the plasterboard and glass wool filling as insulation. All houses now have two letters “DM” spray painted on them: demolition.

The neighborhood took the name of the former president a few months later, when he died from complications of cancer. The complex was designed to be powered by gas tanks They were in a corner of the urbanization. The “bombonas”, the neighbors call them. But soon they detected leaks in the pipes, they closed the two tanks and each owner he had to buy his bottle.

“I was at home doing my chores and when the shaking started. The movement got stronger, the floor moved and my building went forward. I couldn’t get out the door and I escaped through the window because the first floor was buried and four people died. Once outside, we felt that gas began to come out of the cylinders. The community did not know that there was still gas,” says Walezka Pérez (44).

Everyone started running, and when they had advanced just over 100 meters until they reached a sports center, the tank exploded. “The fire caught the first building and passed from one to another. There was despair among the people. Four people were burned to death, including an 11-year-old boy,” Walezka recalls.

Yendri Romero (32), has two children. At the time of the earthquake he was in the building behind the one that caught fire and went out to save himself. “You could hear the gas leak. It made a loud noise,” he recalls during the consultation. Clarion. “The explosion was very strong and took hold of both buildings.”

“This turned itself off. The firefighters did not come, they did not come immediately,” they point out. They were on task due to the number of buildings that fell in Playa Grande, within Catia La Mar, one of the most affected areas of La Guaira.

The neighbors say that they were calm with those two gas tanks because they had been told that they were empty. “We have lived here for 14 years, when the Government, which built the houses, handed it over to us. Until now they have not given us an answer as to where we are going to go,” says Yendri.

To navigate the paved streets of the social neighborhood, you have to avoid some mounds of clothes, which the neighbors took from their homes. In some lot, where there was a building, only twisted aluminum supports and glass wool scattered everywhere remain.

Unlike the image of the rubble ruins, in this urbanization almost all the buildings can be standing, but crooked. Several have their ground floors and even the first floor underground.

Pastel-colored, the walls have cracks and holes in the plasterboard. There are couches on the sidewalks, mattresses and neighbors who go out to try to recover some of their belongings.

In Playa Grande, they agree with the testimonies that this newspaper collected throughout La Guaira, the regime took a long time to appear. There is delivery of food, water, and other assistance, but many of the machines seen in the removal of debris have been provided by private parties.

“The Government has not appeared here until now. The people who have collaborated are from other states and other countries,” says Walezka.

While they wait for help, they took refuge in a center that was in front of the “We continue fighting for what other people bring us, food, water. We are for the volunteers.”