"They're still digging with their bare hands"

“They’re still digging with their bare hands”

A Salesian Missionary Speaks from “Ground Zero”

(ANS – Caracas, Venezuela – July 28, 2026) – Venezuelan Salesian missionary Ubaldino Andrade, who normally works with South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda, has returned temporarily to his home country to visit his family. During his stay, he visited the areas hardest hit by the earthquakes and worked alongside displaced people, volunteers, healthcare workers, and family members who continue to search for their loved ones among the rubble. His account reflects a tragedy that is no longer making the news but is proving unbearable for the population.

More than a month after the 2 earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, which struck northern Venezuela on June 24, the death toll continues to rise. The latest official figures put the number of 5,546 fatalities; furthermore, 16,740 people have been injured, and 17,907 have lost their homes or are unable to return to them.

Fr. Andrade, known to everyone as ‘Uba,’ visited La Guaira accompanied by Salesian Jorge Bastidas and a young woman from the Salesian Youth Movement in Venezuela. There he met a population that, despite their exhaustion and having lost hope of finding survivors, continues to search for the bodies of their loved ones. Here is his account.

“Many people have lost hope of finding their family members alive, but not of at least finding their bodies. People continue to dig with their bare hands,” the Salesian missionary emphasizes.

He stresses that it’s difficult to grasp the extent of the destruction until one visits the affected areas in person. Entire buildings have been crushed, and the upper floors have become the new ground floors, with several stories buried under them.

“What reaches us thru the media is nothing compared to the immensity of the tragedy. There isn’t a single street where you won’t find a destroyed building or house,” he explains.

Faced with the destruction, the missionary highlights the spontaneous mobilization of thousands of people. Vehicles laden with water, coffee, rice, arepas (flatbreads), clothes, tools, and flashlights continue to arrive from Caracas and other states across the country.

The solidarity shown by the people stands out in the face of a tragedy that seems unimaginable

“They’re not coming just to look. They’re coming to help, to comfort, to clear up, and to be with their brothers and sisters. To paraphrase St. Paul, where sorrow and misfortune have abounded, so too have solidarity, empathy, and closeness,” continues the Salesian.

Fr. Uba and his companions were able to distribute water, fruit juices, clothes, soap, hygiene products, and food to families living in tent cities after losing their homes, their possessions, their memories, and even their documents.

Among the aid items were some simple chocolate cookies. A doctor, exhausted after several days of work and lack of sleep, explained to them just how important such a seemingly insignificant gesture could be at that moment.

“There is so much sadness and a strong smell of death. A small cookie doesn’t make you want to eat – the sadness is truly overwhelming – but it can take away that bitter taste we have in our mouths,” the doctor told Fr. Uba.

The Salesian also speaks of the children’s ability to create small pockets of normality. “One day, among the tents and rubble, we found a group of children playing inside an old abandoned car, pretending, in the midst of the disaster, to lead a normal life, without T-shirts, because the heat is unbearable.”

At what might be called ‘ground zero’ (the epicenter), where a cluster of blocks of flats, each over 14 stories high, have been crushed as if they were a giant sandwich, people continue to wait for the ‘moles’ – ordinary people with no professional training – to enter thru the gaps in the rubble, still searching for someone.

“There aren’t many international teams left. The people are still here: university students, Venezuelan and foreign doctors, forensic pathologists, nurses, and young people who keep on digging and searching for bodies,” continues the Salesian. All these people need helmets with lights, warm clothing, flashlights, and protective equipment. Healthcare workers are also asking for mosquito nets to close off the tents where they work, due to the proliferation of flies in the areas where bodies are still being recovered.

Young people, healthcare workers, and volunteers continue to search thru the rubble with almost no resources

During his visit, Fr. Uba met a woman who is still searching for several family members. She and one of her children survived because they were not at home when the earthquakes struck.

“She told us she couldn’t cry because she had to stay strong so that her children wouldn’t lose heart. But how long can a person hold out in these conditions?” wonders Fr. Uba, who also highlights the miracle of finding someone alive in the area a month after the earthquakes.

The missionary then warns that, once the initial rescue phase is over, an equally complex task will soon begin: dealing with the psychological consequences of a traumatic experience that many people have not yet been able to come to terms with.

For their part, the Misiones Salesianas office in Madrid and its Jóvenes y Desarrollo NGO have already allocated over 350,000 euros from the Emergency Venezuela campaign so that the Salesians can assist the population and planning for reconstruction can begin.

The Salesian response includes the distribution of food, water, medicine, and hygiene products, as well as healthcare and psychosocial support, child protection, emergency education, and the restoration of damaged homes and infrastructure. One of the initiatives will provide support for 6 months to 680 particularly vulnerable families in Caracas, La Guaira, and Carabobo. Parishes, schools, and Salesian centers remain open as places to welcome people and to store and distribute aid. Religious, young people, and volunteers continue to travel daily to the affected areas with whatever resources they can gather.

It’s the end of the day, and Fr. Uba concludes his account: “We return home in silence, speechless. But tomorrow will be another day, and we’ll return once more, laden with whatever we manage to procure.”

Source: Misiones Salesianas