Members of the Venezuelan community in South Florida were scrambling to reach relatives in Caracas after Wednesday’s earthquakes, hampered by spotty cell service and internet coverage.
Adelys Ferro, executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus, an advocacy group, said it took her nearly an hour and dozens of calls to reach her mother and sister, who survived the quakes largely unscathed. Something fell on her sister, gashing her forehead, she said. Her sister’s 13-story apartment building remained intact.
Ms. Ferro said she has been inundated with calls from people in South Florida with roots and relatives in Venezuela. “This is crazy,” she said. “People are desperate to get ahold of their families.”
She urged the Venezuelan government to lift restrictions on internet sites to help citizens get information from abroad.
The disaster was being felt keenly in Doral, a city of about 80,000 people west of Miami that counts about 40 percent of its population as from Venezuela. Rafael Pineyro, a Doral councilman who was born in Caracas, said he had already scheduled a drive in the city for Thursday afternoon. Some of the same volunteers organized aid after previous disasters in Venezuela, he said.
“I guarantee you most of the Venezuelans here either have a relative, extended family or friends still there,” Mr. Pineyro said. “This is really touching our community.”
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