Venezuelans sleep in cars and under trees as they question where they’ll live after the earthquakes

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The Quintero family crowded around their new home this week after two deadly earthquakes forced them to flee their apartment building in Caracas.

Francisco Quintero reserved the seats of his small, beat-up car for his children, while the trunk is now home to Paquito, their green-and-red parakeet, and a handful of pet turtles.

Quintero, a musician, said he and other adults in the family search nightly for a place to sleep near the car “until we get an answer about what they might do with us.”

The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes that throttled Venezuela on Wednesday evening just 39 seconds apart toppled buildings in Caracas and beyond, with hundreds of homes damaged. The number of confirmed dead — already in the hundreds — is expected to rise as frantic search-and-rescue missions continue.

Thousands of Venezuelans left suddenly homeless have since poured into parks, plazas and even the shoulders of blocked highways, looking for a place to lay their heads. The latest crisis in this nation of roughly 30 million comes after decades of economic struggle. More than half of the population lives in extreme poverty and nearly 8 million were already in need of humanitarian aid before the quakes struck.

In Guaira — the hardest hit state just north of Caracas — families placed sheets on a dusty baseball field to claim their space, their belongings stuffed into plastic bags. Others sought shelter under palm trees. Among them was 35-year-old Alexandra Martínez and her two children.

“The apartment is completely wrecked,” she said as she wiped away tears. “The walls, the kitchen, everything, are destroyed. It split right down the middle.”

Similar scenes played out across Caracas.

“We have nowhere to live,” Desiré Gil said. “This is the only option we have for the moment.”

The 37-year-old mother of four children, including one who is six months pregnant, now lives atop a small, grassy plaza with her family.

Nearby, people used backpacks as pillows and opened colorful beach umbrellas for shade as helicopters buzzed overhead.

Gil’s residence did not fall, but parts are crumbling and she refuses to go back: “Our fear is that the building might collapse on top of us.”

Like many others, she’s waiting for Venezuela’s civil protection agency to inspect cracked and crumbling buildings and determine if they’re still safe to live in.

But it’s unclear when those inspections might start. The government is still focused on saving lives, with thousands believed missing across Venezuela’s northern region, where the quakes killed at least 920 people and injured more than 3,300 others.

Gil, who sells mangos and other goods for a living, said her pregnant daughter had contractions and went to the hospital on Thursday, only to be turned away. A portion of the maternity ward had collapsed, and the hospital was already overflowing with patients sent by other institutions.

The Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters, but it wasn’t clear how many. For now, Gil said she and her family would live atop the grassy mound “until the government gives us an answer.”

Experts have said they are not surprised at the crumpled buildings.

José Rangel, a civil engineer and university professor, noted that more than 50% of Caracas was built before 1982, the year the government approved a new construction code for seismic zones.

“Everything that we’ve built before that year is seismically vulnerable,” he told state TV station Venezolana de Televisión.

Rangel said he and other engineers were working on seismic retrofitting plans and prioritizing the evaluation of schools, hospitals, bridges and other infrastructure before the earthquakes hit.

He called on the government to rebuild stronger and apply existing recommendations, warning it could take weeks to evaluate buildings and determine if they’re safe.

“It’s a process that lies ahead,” Rangel said. “Right now, the most important issue is rescuing people.”

He called on engineers, architects and others to join upcoming inspection efforts.

“The causes of the collapse must be determined,” he said. “It’s how we learn lessons after an earthquake.”

Magaly Noguera and her family are among the Venezuelans awaiting an inspection. They live in a high-rise that was damaged, with Noguera recalling how she and her son, along with his wife and 3-year-old child, hugged each other under the kitchen door frame until they could run downstairs to a safer place.

“That day, the descent seemed endless to me,” she said. “I don’t want to be in my house.”

They now sleep outside near a government building, surrounded by others in the same situation.

Across the street, a man lugged a mattress on his left shoulder while his partner carried several pillows under her right arm. Nestled between them was a small child as they walked to parts unknown.

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.