Shoes and a passport

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: Helping Venezuela.

Aid organizations are distributing food and setting up hospitals after two massive earthquakes struck the country last week. The confirmed death toll is approaching 2,000. And, with tens of thousands still missing, officials believe that toll will rise as cleanup continues.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Now locals are scrambling to help each other find loved ones in the rubble and distribute supplies. 

WORLD’s Mary Muncy reports.

MARY MUNCY: Albany Morales is driving through her neighborhood in La Guaira. She’s in the same clothes as when she left last week.

ALBANY MORALES: It's all destroyed. I think it's even worse than the day of the earthquake.

She passes the mall where her mother used to work. It’s the first time she’s been back.

MORALES: It’s just looks like a, like a horror movie.

Several of her friends from high school are missing or dead. One had a funeral that she couldn’t attend.

Morales, her mother, and brother were in their apartment when the earthquakes struck last Wednesday. After the shaking eased, they ran down five flights of stairs and outside to find Morales’ father. She forgot to put shoes on. 

Hours later, they reunited with him outside of a clinic. They sat under its awning for the night.

MORALES: I didn't want to sleep either, so didn't matter to me, because we were just so stressed out, and we were terrified.

The next day, they went back to the apartment. Morales grabbed a pair of shoes and her passport, then they drove 30 miles to stay with a friend in Caracas. 

On Monday, her old boss told her about an interpreting opportunity with a disaster relief organization.

ETHAN FORHETZ: A lot of times earthquakes will happen in places that are a little more remote—not the case here.

Ethan Forhetz is the Vice President of Convoy of Hope. As he drove through town, the first thing he noticed was tents everywhere.

FORHETZ: Those earthquakes were so devastating and powerful. It weakened a lot of structures that didn't come down, and so now people are just concerned about going in, and it could be months before inspections are able to be done to get everybody back into their homes.

Millions of Venezuelans were already relying on aid before the disaster, and the government has been trying to recover from more than ten years of a shrinking economy.

Now, Convoy of Hope and other aid organizations are setting up supply distribution and medical sites in the country.

Morales says her next worry is her diabetic father’s insulin. He has a month’s supply, and she doesn’t know what will happen when it runs out.

But right now, Morales says she’s not sad about the loss of their house or her things…

MORALES: We're really thankful to God right now, just because we're alive. We're alive.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

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