Survivor rescued in La Guaira eight days after disaster
Fernanda Pesce And Juan Pablo Arraez
Catia La Mar: Rescuers pulled a 43-year-old security guard alive from a collapsed basement early Thursday, ending a grueling days-long operation that became a symbol of hope after the devastation of twin earthquakes that hit Venezuela eight days ago.
Hernán Alberto Gil Flores emerged safely on a stretcher surrounded by helmet-wearing rescuers after being trapped under rubble in the basement of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping mall in the seaside town of La Guaira since June 24.
Rescuers who first contacted him over the weekend worked for more than 100 hours to save him; They made their way through a highly unstable structure, torrential rain and constant aftershocks to tunnel for the survivor.
Flag-carrying crews from around the world cheered as rescuers carried Gil Flores, wearing an oxygen mask and covered with an orange tarp, through crowds of people to an ambulance.
A Chilean rescuer carrying the stretcher shook his fist in joy. A group of men wearing red Costa Rican Red Cross uniforms hugged and laughed with relief. Others left with applause.
“When we found him, he asked us not to tell his wife that he was alive, maybe he wouldn’t make it,” Costa Rican Red Cross rescuer Minyar Collado told The Associated Press.
The rescue was considered a minor miracle that averted a week of tragedy. By providing Gil Flores with food and water while digging through the concrete, rescuers were able to keep him alive much longer than the 48 to 72 hour threshold provided by most operations to find survivors in disasters.
Gil Flores, who works the night shift as a security guard at the complex, was in the small security booth when the first violent shaking occurred. As the concrete structure surrounding it collapsed, its cabin protected the floor, shielding it from debris and creating a vital air gap.
An expert team from the Costa Rican Red Cross first detected signs of life and contacted him on Sunday.
His wife, Gusbimar González, told the AP she was struggling with despair days before she heard about rescuers making contact.
“When I found out he was alive, I saw a ray of light in the darkness,” he said. The couple has two children aged 8 and 10.
The operation was coordinated by an urban search and rescue team consisting of Chilean firefighters working around the clock with expert teams from the United States, Portugal, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Venezuela.
Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez celebrated the rescue on social media at a time when her government is under fire for what many Venezuelans say is an inadequate crisis response.
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Crews used a telescopic camera to help maintain constant contact with Gil Flores; During the last three days of the rescue, she kept him hydrated by passing water and liquid food through a narrow well.
María Paz Campos, an experienced firefighter from Chile, talked him through the entire operation and kept him calm in the last excruciating hours of Thursday.
In a video released by Chilean firefighters a few hours before the rescue operation, Gil Flores can be seen drawing, apparently to pass the time. Campos then gently tells him to look at the camera and wear protective glasses.
“I need you to wear your glasses to prevent small falling particles from getting into your eyes,” Campos told the Venezuelan survivor.
The collapse of the building was triggered by two successive earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 respectively on June 24. Shallow and powerful tremors damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of buildings in northern Venezuela, killing more than 2,200 people, injuring more than 11,000, and making La Guaira state the hardest-hit region in the country.
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