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BBC News reported that Karina Blanco had been preparing to teach a spinning class when the ground began to shake violently on June 24, prompting her to flee outdoors before racing home to Caraballeda in La Guaira state upon realizing the severity of the tremors. There she discovered that the 10-storey Ritamar Palace building where her daughter had been alone had completely collapsed, with only a portion of the 12-year-old’s bed visible amid the debris. The girl’s mother told the broadcaster she initially feared the worst as she screamed her daughter’s name into the rubble, one of many moments of despair during the ordeal that ended with a successful rescue more than a day later.
According to the detailed account provided to BBC News, Fabiana Blanco had run into the kitchen of their first-floor flat as the walls cracked and crumbled around her during the back-to-back quakes, leaving her pinned face-up with the ceiling inches from her face. The 12-year-old, who described herself as anxious and claustrophobic, said a strange calm came over her as she waited in the darkness and eventually found a bottle of ketchup and some grated cheese in the debris. Fabiana later said, “I ate ketchup and cheese,” explaining that the items helped keep her conscious while she also recorded a video message on her phone pleading for rescuers to help those trapped including herself.
Karina Blanco recounted to the outlet how a nurse trapped nearby was pulled out after six hours and alerted volunteers that her daughter remained alive, sparking renewed efforts that involved a volunteer named Viktor who repeatedly called out to Fabiana and coordinated assistance. Local firefighters made initial attempts at dawn but withdrew after failing to make contact, yet Viktor persisted in reassuring the girl until a specialized team from Caracas arrived after nightfall. With residents pointing motorcycle and car headlights at the site to aid visibility, rescuers eventually chiselled a tunnel and freed Fabiana at around 2 a.m. on June 26 as she emerged smiling to reunite with her mother.
United States Geological Survey figures show the two earthquakes, which struck seconds apart near Veroes Municipality in Yaracuy state, registered magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 at shallow depths that amplified the destruction across northern Venezuela including La Guaira and Caracas. National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez stated that more than 3,300 people had been confirmed dead with over 16,400 injured and tens of thousands reported missing as of early July, while the quakes generated more than 780 aftershocks according to seismic monitoring bodies. The Venezuelan government declared a national emergency immediately after the event on June 24 and mobilized both local and international rescue teams as part of the response.
A CNN assessment of the disaster noted that initial reports placed the death toll at around 235 with 4,300 injured by June 26 before the numbers climbed steeply in subsequent days, reflecting the extensive building collapses in populated areas. Reuters reporting indicated that predictive modeling by the USGS had anticipated a toll potentially reaching into the thousands given the scale of structural damage and the country’s history of seismic activity. Al Jazeera coverage added that nearly two dozen aftershocks followed the main events, complicating search operations in regions where power and communications were disrupted for extended periods.
According to Karina Blanco’s interview with BBC News, only three residents out of nearly 50 from the Ritamar Palace building were rescued alive, underscoring the tragedy’s toll on her community where many neighbors and friends perished. Fabiana suffered a fracture in her left foot along with scrapes and bruises but no other major injuries and has since been recovering at her grandmother’s home in La Guaira. The girl’s mother stated that while streets outside their temporary residence remain lined with collapsed structures and a sense of sadness persists, the family feels profound gratitude that her daughter survived what so many others did not.
An ABC News compilation of survival stories from the disaster highlighted how Fabiana’s calm demeanor and smile captured in video as rescuers reached her provided a moment of hope amid widespread devastation, with the footage circulating widely across Venezuelan social media. Reports from The Detroit News described how in some neighborhoods residents organized their own rescues with limited initial official presence, drawing on community efforts to locate survivors in the critical first hours. European Union civil protection updates confirmed that specialized teams from France and the United States collaborated on multiple extractions, contributing to the more than 6,400 rescues tallied by authorities in the weeks following the June 24 quakes.
