At 3:55 a.m. on June 25, a flicker of cellular service allowed Carlos to send word to the outside world from the rubble of his home in La Guaira that he and his family had survived the twin earthquakes that shook Venezuela’s capital region hours earlier. “For now, I’m in a makeshift shelter near where my house used to be,” he wrote. “We’re trying to help and rescue our neighbors.” Then the service went out again. In the days that followed, Carlos, his neighbors, state workers, and thousands of Venezuelans dug through rubble and what remained of their homes to pull out their family, friends, and neighbors – both those who survived, and those who did not (6,462 and 6,509 respectively, according to latest official figures). Thousands more sought refuge where they could, with the largest shelter, Caribbean Maritime University, reporting an estimated 4,000 or more people in the early days (down to 2,600 within a week as other shelters were set up to provide more dignified conditions or as survivors found other housing solutions, and 830 as of late August). More
