In brief
Two 15‑year‑old brothers, Deivi and Winder, escaped the twin 7.5‑magnitude earthquakes that hit La Guaira in Venezuela, which left three of their family dead. After their apartment collapsed, they fled to their father’s home in Cali, Colombia. Three days later a 7.4‑magnitude earthquake struck the city, shattering their temporary safety and plunging them into another tragedy. The brothers’ struggle in the rubble, the discovery of missing family members, and their adjustment to a new life after the disaster are chronicled in this heart‑wracking story.
Two 15‑year‑old Venezuelan brothers fled a twin 7.5‑magnitude earthquake that razed their apartment in La Guaira, killing three of their family. The brothers—Deivi and Winder—journeyed to their father’s modest house in Cali, Colombia, hoping for safety and a new beginning.
"The earthquake is haunting me," says Deivi, a raw admission that echoes the trauma that has followed them. The night their home collapsed, they were trapped under a debris‑filled ten‑storey building; their mother, grandmother, and younger brother were buried alive.
They left the rubble and the city in a desperate search for missing relatives, eventually learning that a friend had vanished. Their father's braver return to Venezuela after the earthquake was futile, as he could find no trace of the boys for three days.
They returned to Colombia and settled in a low‑rise neighbourhood, but only after a short period did they feel displacement again when Cali itself shuddered under a 7.4‑magnitude quake, injuring several and killing over a few hundred people.
Despite the new shock, the brothers report a sense of resilience that they forged in the previous tragedy. The current crisis, however, reminds them that life in this region remains fragile, and that their quest for family survivors continues amid ongoing uncertainty.
