The rescues of two 11-year-old boys trapped after days in the rubble of the earthquakes in Venezuela

Moises, aged 11, was pulled from the rubble after being trapped for days
ungrd_oficial
Two 11-year-old boys were rescued from the rubble of buildings that collapsed in the strong earthquakes that hit Venezuela this week. The two were buried in different locations.
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A video released this Sunday (28/06) shows one of the boys, identified as Moises, being removed from the wreckage - with his eyes covered to protect them from the sun - to the applause of rescuers.
Hours later, the interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, announced that another 11-year-old boy had been rescued and published a video on Tens of thousands of people are still missing.
Venezuela earthquake death toll passes 1,400
It has been more than 72 hours since the first earthquake, but rescuers have not given up hope, saying people may still be alive, especially if they have access to food and water under the rubble.
Wednesday's two earthquakes, which struck 39 seconds apart, tore apart hundreds of buildings collapse and many people remain trapped inside them. Desperate families have been digging through the rubble with their bare hands, trying to find their loved ones.
Some told the BBC they can hear people under the rubble, but are unable to move the heavy concrete slabs and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of heavy machinery.
Six-hour work
The National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD) said Moises was buried under about 3 meters of rubble, and that the rescue team spent six hours carrying out "high precision" work on Saturday to reach him.
Reuters reported that a rescuer was heard on the radio saying that the boy was found near his sister and mother, who had died.
Hours later, Delcy Rodríguez published a video on Venezuela," he wrote.
Authorities said the coastal region of La Guaira, where Caraballeda is located, was the hardest hit.
Rescue efforts have been hampered by aftershocks, which in turn have terrified residents.
"To be honest, it makes you a little nervous. Any noise...horrible," Jesús Andueza, a 64-year-old bus driver, told BBC News Mundo (the BBC's Spanish-language news service).
Thousands of people are living in their cars or camping in places like the airport and golf courses, far from buildings that could collapse.
The golf course in Caraballeda has become the epicenter of the emergency response.
Its green lawn, once perfectly manicured, is now a makeshift hospital and donation center, where residents who have lost everything sort through piles of donated clothes and relief boxes.
In another part of the golf course, next to a small pond, a strip of land has been prepared as a landing area for helicopters arriving with supplies and emergency teams from Venezuela and abroad.
In the area around the golf course, the streets of Caraballeda - cracked and covered in debris - are marked by dust and silence, interrupted only by heavy machinery and those searching through the wreckage.
A golf course in the town of Caraballeda has become the epicenter of the response to emergency
BBC
Milagros González, told BBC Mundo that her building was one of the few that did not collapse and that she fled as soon as she could to take shelter on the golf course.
"I left with my two young daughters and two elderly relatives. But, thank God, we came out alive. The building is not habitable. But we're alive, which is what matters," she said.
González said that every time she goes to bed, she wakes up dizzy and thinks the ground is shaking.
"A psychologist just told me that this is part of the process," she said, as her two young daughters play with dolls on a mattress in the grass.
Donated clothes are piling up at the Caraballeda golf course for residents who have lost everything
EPA
In a video message on Sunday, Delcy Rodríguez said that the José María Vargas sports complex in La Guaira is also functioning as an emergency response center.
Noting that the armed forces were organizing clothing, medicine and food, Rodríguez said that "everything is working in the best possible way in these terrible moments, in these terrible hours that our people are facing."
"Let them know that no one here is alone, no family or individual needs to feel alone. Our people and our state are here, the social protection system is here, and international solidarity is here."
But frustration has been growing, with some saying the government's response is slow and inefficient. In some of the worst-affected areas, such as the Caribbean and Tanaguarena, there are entire regions where rubble removal has not yet begun.
In recent days, international rescue teams from Mexico, Spain, Qatar, the United States and the United Kingdom have arrived to reinforce the search.
Tom Fletcher, an official of the UN, said on Saturday that 39 search and rescue teams have been mobilized from around the world, each consisting of 50 to 100 people.
"We are talking about almost 2 thousand people arriving, 111 dogs, as well as medical teams. We use microdrones that help us find people in buildings."
We used artificial intelligence to translate this report, originally written in English. The text was reviewed by a BBC journalist before publication. Find out more here about how the BBC is using artificial intelligence (link to text in English).
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Source: G1