MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In Venezuela, more than 1,700 people have died from two major earthquakes. There's also another crisis - thousands of other people have been left without a place to live. NPR's Eyder Peralta reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHILDREN PLAYING)
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: In the middle of Caracas, residents of a brick mid-rise have set up a tent camp at a park across the street. The building was government housing, and whole families are now sleeping in the middle of this park.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: (Chanting in non-English language).
PERALTA: Mirna Castillo (ph) says when the earthquake struck, the building swayed violently, there was a stampede to get out, and now they just don't feel safe.
MIRNA CASTILLO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "How are we going to live in a place that's about to crack open?" She says the whole thing was so scary her 7-year-old daughter started convulsing. She shakes her head. Venezuela was already in political and economic chaos.
CASTILLO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "It's hard to find ourselves once again in the middle of another chaos."
CASTILLO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "It's just one chaos after another." She says the government has offered no help. An inspector showed up, said the building was fine and then changed his mind as soon as an aftershock hit. She feels abandoned. The government has offered them no shelter, no direction.
CASTILLO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "So we count on God," she says.
CASTILLO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "If it was for politicians, we'd die. And the government gives us even less hope," she says.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: The government of Venezuela says they are pulling out all the stops to deal with this catastrophe. They've said that they will open large camps to house people left without a home. But across Caracas on the northern coast, thousands are living on sidewalks, in parks, on football fields.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORN HONKING)
PERALTA: In La Guaira, the worst-hit part of the country, the living walk among the dead. I find Jaymarie Blanco (ph) standing next to her couch. Her apartment building is now on its side. One of her neighbors is dead under it, and the smell of decomposition fills the air.
JAYMARIE BLANCO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "Right now, we're just adrift." She and her neighbors decided to walk into the apartments to rescue some of their belongings. Every time they walked in, they were scared the building might crumble.
BLANCO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: They don't know where they will end up, she says, but she doesn't want to be a bother. She took out a mattress and a sectional white couch that took so much work to buy, but she doesn't know where any of this will go.
BLANCO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "It's not easy," she says. Tears fill her eyes.
BLANCO: (Speaking Spanish, crying).
PERALTA: "We've struggled so much," she repeats. "We've struggled so much. It's not easy."
Eyder Peralta, NPR News, La Guaira, Venezuela. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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