Breathe without despair: woman tells how she survived for 48 hours under the rubble in Venezuela

Volunteers and paramedics watch rescue teams carry out acoustic tests in search of survivors in a building that collapsed in an earthquake, in Caraballeda, in the state of La Guaira, Venezuela
Juan Barreto/AFP
Andrea Canónico concentrated on her breathing to manage to remain calm under the rubble of a building in Venezuela. Meanwhile, Moisés Faramaya used his experience as a miner to save people trapped there.
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Andrea, 23, waited for almost 48 hours to be rescued, after the two earthquakes last week. Now, she hopes that her brother, 20, and her aunt, 91, can be rescued.
Almost a week after the tragedy in Venezuela, the hope of finding survivors is slim. On Monday (29) only three people were rescued alive, and a boy was removed from the rubble by Tuesday afternoon (30).
'I didn't despair'
"The main thing of all was that I didn't despair", Andrea told the AFP agency, in Los Corales, in the state of La Guaira, the epicenter of the earthquakes. "I thought, 'I'm going to sleep.' It will certainly continue to shake. I'm going to stay calm, I'm not going to despair because of my breathing."
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Andrea said that there was a space that allowed her to sit, although above her there was about six meters of rubble. "My cell phone stayed with me all this time," he said. The device allowed her to know the time and illuminate the place.
Above Andrea, there was a man with whom she was able to communicate. He was rescued the next day and informed that she was waiting for help.
"Above me there was a hole, which I managed to get through. I went through a piece of furniture and managed to get to the other hole that the rescuers were making. I climbed there and they were pulling me", described Andrea, whose arms were bandaged up to the elbows.
"Is there anyone alive here?", shouted repeatedly volunteer Moisés Faramaya, 26, who claimed to have rescued 16 people and 22 bodies in the disaster area. "I knocked twice and heard someone scratching a wall. The person was trapped and could move his hand. And I got him out alive," he said.
Faramaya is known as "The Mole", and explains that he is a good digger because he worked for six years in the mines of El Callao, in the state of Bolívar, rich in gold and precious stones.
Firefighters and specialists request the help of Faramaya, who barely eats or sleeps. He only smokes in his brief breaks, to "stay active". "The work is not easy, the dust, the smell of bodies decomposing... But we are persevering", he commented.
Aerial view of Caraballeda, in the state of La Guaira, Venezuela, on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, after consecutive earthquakes
Miguel Medina/Pool Photo via AP
Hope
Days ago, authorities declared all the residents of the building where Andrea lived for dead. Waiter Alexander García, 44, heard firefighters declare "Code 14", which he said meant everyone would be dead.
But an American team and Spanish dogs found signs of life and rekindled hope for dozens of family members. "The emotion that they are alive was reborn", described García, who was looking forward to being reunited with two brothers. "Everyone heard them," said the waiter, whose mother was rescued but later died.
In Los Corales, rescue work continued with the help of flashlights, under the eyes of dozens of people. In the early hours of Tuesday, a storm hit La Guaira and led to the suspension of the search.

Source: G1