Rubble, pain, and despair — these few words capture the reality unfolding across Venezuela in the wake of two devastating earthquakes. The country is enduring profoundly traumatic moments, with eyewitness accounts revealing a crisis far graver than what appears in international media coverage.
‘The Truth Is Far Worse’
Alexandros Kakalanos, a Greek dentist living in Caracas, spoke exclusively to Mega TV, offering a harrowing first-hand perspective. ‘The truth is far worse than what you see,’ he said, holding up his mobile phone to film the aftermath of the quakes — named after the mythological Titan Enceladus — across central Caracas.
‘I can’t describe what remains of this apartment building — I’ll show you instead,’ he says, before sharing footage that speaks louder than words. The building is reduced to rubble. Streets and public squares — once bustling urban spaces — have become makeshift camps, sheltering displaced residents who now sleep under open skies.
‘This Is How All Squares Look Now’
‘This square has relatively few people — most are elsewhere. Everyone is waiting for another quake, terrified,’ Kakalanos explains. He stresses that conditions on the ground are significantly more dire than televised images suggest, and notes that numerous countries have begun dispatching humanitarian aid.
Yet, he adds, Venezuela lacks the specialized equipment needed for large-scale urban search-and-rescue operations. ‘They’re using dogs to locate survivors — and when a dog signals a person is alive beneath the debris, rescuers go in manually to pull them out. They’re using mobile phone flashlights to search for the missing.’
His final reflection carries quiet urgency: ‘I don’t know whether Greece can send assistance here.’