Haydee Darias: “I've never experienced something like this.”
Haydee Darias, 66, from Venezuela is a true survivor. When she was eight years old, she lived through her first severe earthquake. In 1999, she survived the “Catastrophe of Vargas”, when torrential rains triggered landslides that killed and displaced thousands of people in what is now La Guaira. Despite hardships and challenges in her crises-stricken country, she built a live for herself and her family. Then, on June 24th, 2026, she felt the ground shake again.
Haydee lives in the coastal town of Caraballeda, one of the communities that was hit hardest by the earthquakes and aftershocks. Life here was not easy for most people even before the earthquakes. Poverty rates are high, and many families live in very vulnerable conditions. When the earthquakes struck, Haydee was on her patio.
“When I felt the ground shaking, I thought something was happening to me. I was with my grandchildren, and I told them not to move and to hold on. It was indescribable. It reminded me of the 1967 earthquake. I was eight years old then. But I have never experienced anything like this.”
Fear has become a constant companion
With her family, Haydee lives further up the hill, where the damage is less severe. But down the hill, entire neighborhoods have been devastated. “Thank God my family is safe. But I knew many people who have lost their lives.”
Haydee shares an apartment with her daughter, her son-in-law, and their three children: Josealis (15), Christopher (12), and Adhara (2). Cracks have appeared in the walls, which they already tried to repair. The whole family is exhausted from lack of sleep. During the nights, they often lie awake, unable to sleep properly. Fear of another earthquake has become a constant companion.
Christopher especially has been struggling since the earthquake. He has developed a very high level of anxiety. “Friends of my grandson went missing; they all went to the same school”, says Haydee. Christopher also fell ill with a fever, but the family did not have any medication.
Medical support for families in need
Our partner organization on the ground was able to set up a mobile clinic in Caraballeda very quickly after the earthquakes. The family went there for support and the our partner's medical team examined and treated Christopher with much-needed medication. They also treated his little sister who had hurt her foot in a crack in the floor.
"The fully equipped mobile medical units are deployed over a period of three months to ensure continuous, decentralized medical care for people in the hardest-hit areas of Caracas, La Guaira, and Miranda. In addition, given the acute shortage of medicines in the crisis region, we are sending medications and medical supplies from Germany,” says our Emergency Relief Coordinator Jonas Jung.
Worry for the future
The family is relieved to have medical support and that they all survived relatively unscathed. But they are worried for their future. Haydee’s daughter Aydelis, 34, worked at a pharmacy that was completely destroyed in the earthquake. She has now lost her job, and the financial strain caused by the loss of income places an additional burden on the family.
Haydee also has yet to face the heartbreaking reality of what happened in the rest of Caraballeda. “Down the hill, everything is completely destroyed. I haven’t been there yet”, says Haydee. “Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente - what the eyes don’t see, the heart doesn’t feel. I don’t want to see it.”
July 2026
