When the earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24, Bishop Juan Carlos Bravo Salazar of Petare was in Mérida, more than 370 miles away. All flights had been cancelled. He had no choice but to make the 10-hour journey back by road. What he found when he arrived was not what he expected.
“Petare is one of the poorest and most densely populated areas of Caracas,” he told the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need. “They call it Latin America’s largest slum. You’d think that the poorer neighborhoods would be the first to collapse in an earthquake, but Petare remained intact.” Solid rock beneath the barrio had protected it. The diocese of Petare covers 68 square miles and is home to some two million people spread across 2,000 neighborhoods. Around ninety percent of them are poor.
That intact foundation turned Petare into something unexpected: a launchpad for relief. The region hardest hit by the earthquakes was La Guaira, on the coast north of Caracas, where dozens of buildings collapsed and hundreds of thousands were left without homes or electricity. Four of Caracas’s main hospitals are in Petare, and the wounded began arriving almost immediately.
The local Church responded the same day. Through the diocesan branch of Caritas, four collection centers were established and more than 250 volunteers mobilized. “We are providing medication, surgical equipment, cleaning materials and food, but also clothes,” Bishop Bravo explained, “because many of those who arrive come with nothing at all.”
The bishop’s account of those early days is full of images that resist the abstraction of disaster reporting. One woman arrived from La Guaira disoriented and alone, with family members in a hospital she could not locate and no idea where to find medicine or clothing. Volunteers accompanied her through every step, found everything she needed, and stayed with her. At some point she collapsed. “We thought she had died,” the bishop said. When she recovered, she explained what had happened: she had been overwhelmed not by exhaustion or fear, but by gratitude. “She told us that she had felt overwhelmed at having been welcomed and helped in this way, in an unfamiliar place, and by people who expected nothing in return. Fear can break a person, but love breaks down that fear.”
Two cobblers arrived at one of the collection centers. They collect old shoes, repair them, and resell them to survive. They had brought fifty pairs they had fixed and intended to sell—and donated all of them instead. “Even those who have nothing give everything,” Bishop Bravo said. He sees in that gesture a theological truth as much as a human one: “God also works out of nothing. There may be hardly any resources, but there is no lack of human and spiritual wealth.”
The bishop also pointed to the young. When a large truck of water, mattresses, food and medicine arrived late one night at one of the collection centers, volunteers were called. “In 15 minutes we had the truck fully unloaded. They help with joy, discipline, and without seeking attention. The most important thing for them is to be there as brothers, to accompany and help.”
Aid to the Church in Need has approved an emergency aid package of $109,000 to support the local Church’s response across the affected dioceses, covering immediate care for the afflicted as well as pastoral and spiritual support for the communities. The fund is designed to allow flexible response to the most urgent needs as they are identified on the ground.
To support ACN’s response in Venezuela, visit churchinneed.org.
