A month after the double earthquake in Venezuela, they claim that there may be survivors under the rubble

Almost a month, exactly 29 days later, the hope of finding a living relative fades, but sometimes a miracle appears and that is what happened this Wednesday in the collapsed “OPP-26” tower, in La Guaira, the coast of the Venezuelan capital, as reported by journalist Seir Contreras on social networks.

The discovery of two or three people alive under the rubble of the “OPP-26”, whose collapsed tower is part of the social housing buildings built by the Chavista regime for the popular sector, called Gran Misión Vivienda, has surprised the community.

“This morning (July 22) signs of life were detected in 2 teenagers in La Guaira,” said Seir Contreras, who has been reporting from the most devastated area of ​​the double earthquake with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 degrees, which has claimed the lives of 5,398 people and injured more than 16,000.

According to what was detailed by Contreras, volunteer rescuers indicated that rescue work is complicatedsince access to the area is limited. “There has been indirect communication through scratches and knocks on the walls,” said the communication professional about the signs of life at the site.

In the midst of the darkness, the rescuers ask for absolute silence so as not to disturb the person who is presumably alive in the rubble.

“Hope is reignited in the midst of this tragedy. God willing that we are facing a miracle,” exclaims Remesa Daniel when assuming that there is life almost a month after the earthquake, two teenagers are located alive in Tower G of OPP26 (La Guaira) after a long dawn.

Volunteers and rescuers continue to fight to get them out of an old warehouse that served as a shelter. They are dying, today they are stabilized with a delicate prognosis.

The search work continues without rest, while rescuers maintain hope of achieving a new miracle in the area.

Those affected have criticized the destruction of social housing for the poor construction that the Chavista regime has given to the popular sectors. Most have fallen due to earthquakes. Hugo Chávez in 2010 ordered the massive construction of housing to serve those affected by the landslides. For this purpose, the Presidential Office of Special Plans and Projects (Opppe) was created.

The regime planted massive Soviet-style masses in the Vargas state, today La Guaira, resorting to the hand-picking of contracts and slight technical supervision to meet peremptory deadlines. Of nine urban developments built by the Opppe in La Guaira, made up of 43 towers in total, 37% collapsed (16 towers) and the remaining 63% were left standing with structural damage that made them uninhabitable (27 towers).

According to the Armando.Info report, Opppe managed a budget of almost 3.3 billion dollars between 2011 and 2015, with a peak of 1.169 million in 2012, without a public breakdown of its execution. In its Memories and Accounts, the expenditure is described in terms as vague as “contributing to urban improvements at the national level.”

The nine Opppe urban developments in La Guaira totaled 3,637 apartments. With a conservative estimate of four people per family, more than 14,500 people lost their homes.

The construction companies were hired without public bidding. The emergency decree due to the 2010 rains suspended that requirement, opening the door to discretionary allocations to inexperienced companies ascertainable under construction.

Francisco “Farruco” Sesto Novás was the president of the Opppe (2009–2014), architect and minister, he was the public face of the Opppe during its years of greatest construction activity. In 2021, at a meeting in Madrid, he publicly acknowledged: “We were not doing soil studies. We had a great urgency to deliver the homes” and they collapsed like sand castles.

After the earthquake the urgency to build homes has not changed. History seems to repeat itself.

The interim president Delcy Rodriguez has launched a great massive construction project. It has promised to deliver 4,000 homes before December for those affected by the earthquakes.

This Tuesday he personally inspected several lands in the state of La Guaira to certify their suitability for the development of new urban projects, in the company of the president of the Presidential Commission for the Evaluation of the Habitability of Housing and Infrastructure, Francisco Garcés, and the Minister of Popular Power for Habitat and Housing, Paola Posani.

The technical day is part of the reconstruction actions implemented after the contingency generated by the seismic double of last June 24, articulated through the Venezuela Renace Plan and the General Staff for Transitory Camps and Housing.

The activity includes the geological verification of more than 40 properties that cover 584 thousand square meters, space destined for the construction of more than 25 thousand housing solutions designed under anti-seismic standards.

His brother and head of Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez, also participates in land supervision. “We supervise the Mirador Caiza, in Charallave, an urban development with the potential for 1,400 apartments. In August we began deliveries for families who are in temporary camps. President Delcy Rodríguez ordered to accelerate, here we are guaranteeing safe homes.”

The Simón Bolívar international airport in Maiquetía – which serves Caracas – is advancing in its reconstruction. Apparently it will resume operations starting August 15.

La Guaira encourages returning to its activities. 90% of commercial establishments located in areas that were less affected by the earthquakes are trying to reopen their doors and, added to the total registered in the entity before the tragedy, 56% of the commercial sector is operational.

This was reported by the governor of the state of La Guaira, Alejandro Terán, during an interview, where he detailed that of the 7,000 businesses active in La Guaira before the earthquake, 1,752 remain standing and were identified in a first advance of the commercial census.

Regarding the businesses and commercial establishments that were affected, but that can recover, he indicated that the regional government created a financing strategy in coordination with the banking system.