Overview
- Two powerful quakes struck northern Venezuela on June 24, collapsing buildings in coastal towns and triggering large-scale search-and-rescue operations.
- Andrea Bello was found dead under the rubble after using her body to shield her roughly 20-month-old daughter, Alana, who survived the collapse.
- Alana has been discharged from hospital and is staying with a close family friend while relatives and local volunteers care for her.
- Héctor Bello, the child’s father and a professional footballer, said he is traveling to Venezuela, denied soliciting money and asked only for diapers, wet wipes, baby clothes and fruit coordinated through named local contacts.
- Official counts reported hundreds of fatalities and thousands injured, and the U.S. Geological Survey called the event a severe seismic doublet that produced one of Venezuela’s deadliest quakes in more than a century.