A 43-year-old security guard in Venezuela has been rescued from the rubble of a shopping center where he was trapped for eight days following back-to-back earthquakes. Hernán Alberto Gil Flores was found alive on Thursday in the collapsed basement of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping center in the coastal state of La Guaira, where he had been stranded since the powerful tremors struck on June 24.
Rescuers first established contact with Gil Flores over the weekend after detecting signs of life. During the final days of the rescue operation, crews used a telescopic camera to communicate with him and lowered water and liquid nutrients through a narrow shaft to sustain him. "When we found him, he asked us not to tell his wife that he was alive, just in case he wouldn't make it," a Costa Rican Red Cross rescuer told The Associated Press.
Gil Flores was working an overnight shift when the first earthquake hit. His small security booth remained intact amidst the building's collapse, shielding him from falling debris and creating a pocket of space that allowed him to survive. Rescue efforts were complicated by aftershocks, heavy rain, and unstable rubble.
His wife, Gusbimar González, described the moment she learned he was alive as a "ray of light in the darkness." The couple has two children, ages 8 and 10.
The operation was a multinational effort, led by Chilean firefighters and including search-and-rescue teams from Costa Rica, the United States, Portugal, and Mexico.
The twin earthquakes, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, struck northern Venezuela on June 24, causing widespread destruction. Tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed, more than 2,200 people were killed, and over 11,000 were injured. Gil Flores' survival offered a rare moment of hope amid the extensive devastation.
Gil Flores' rescue followed the recovery of a 2-year-old boy who was pulled alive from the rubble six days after the earthquakes. On Saturday, U.S. search-and-rescue teams also pulled a 9-month-old infant and her mother alive from a collapsed structure, with both sustaining only minor injuries.
The U.S. government has mobilized $150 million in humanitarian aid to support Venezuela's response to the disaster.