‘Helplessness:’ Venezuelan community in Ottawa worries for family and friends back home after earthquake

Zully Alavaravo holds a candle she has lit for Venezuela. (Kimberley Johnson/CTV News Ottawa)

Venezuela’s flag flies outside Zully Alvarado’s home and attached to it, a black ribbon symbolizing the grief she feels in the wake of two earthquakes that devastated her home country.

“Helplessness,” Alvarado said when asked how she’s feeling. “A feeling of immense worry for people that need our help.”

More than 1,700 are dead and tens of thousands are missing as rescue crews and civilians search for survivors.

Alvarado has lived in Canada since the 1970s but still has extended family scattered across Venezuela. She says in the days since the twin quakes, she has been searching for family members but worries for all the people who have been affected.

“I cannot imagine the fear they felt,” said Alvarado of those affected in the quake. “And I can imagine running, even if they had that chance, maybe to a door, and then everything collapses around them.”

Both inside and outside the country, frustration is growing, with some criticizing the Venezuelan Government’s response.

“Our people needs help. All of them,” said Alvarado. “The ones left behind, the ones are hurt. The ones that are about to be rescued. And I’m hoping that there’s still ones to be rescued.”

Fundraising in Ottawa

Support efforts are also underway in the nation’s capital. In Manotick, the owners of Encanto Café Manotick collected supplies over the weekend.

Juanita Botero says when her father saw what happened in the country, they knew they had to help.

“When we saw what was happening there, my dad was very devastated,” Botero said.

Botero says between Friday night and Saturday night, an entire truck was filled with supplies like clothes, diapers and medicine. The truck was donated and then driven to Toronto, where it will then go on to Venezuela.

Botero says her family is originally from Columbia, and says their home was hit with an earthquake 25 years ago, so they knew that Venezuelans needed supplies.

“It was like a mix of emotions because we knew what these people was going through in Venezuela. So, we were very sad for them,” she said. “But we were also very happy because we could do something to help them.”

At home, Alvarado says she prays more survivors are found.

“What is good about Venezuelans is that we love and support each other. We’re giving people, we’re caring people, and we are adoring people, and we stand united in (this) devastation, which is horrible.”

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