Two teenage brothers spent 26 days using a variety of tools, including a kitchen knife, to dig through the rubble of their destroyed apartment building in Venezuela’s La Guaira state, searching for their mother and siblings after a major earthquake.
Winder Delfin, 17, and his brother, Deivi, 15, were en route home from a waterpark when the June 24 earthquake struck. Their family lived on the first floor of a 12-story public housing building that was devastated by the tremors.
Alongside their father, Deivid Delfín, 44, and stepfather, Giovanni Berroterán, 50, the brothers worked to excavate the remains of their home. Their search efforts involved a shovel, pickaxe, sledgehammer, jackhammer, saw, and a kitchen knife.
On the 24th day of their search, Deivi was able to create an opening into the living room, where he discovered his younger brother Moissés's shorts and their mother Yusmani's Bible. A few hours later, they found their grandmother, Carmen, 69. It took another 24 hours of digging to locate Yusmani and Moissés, who were found in the kitchen.
"I'm no longer a boy," Deivi told The New York Times.
Venezuela's government reported that 856 buildings were damaged and 190 collapsed completely following the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes. As of Friday, the death toll had risen to 5,069, with 16,740 injured. President Delcy Rodriguez’s interim government stated that approximately 18,000 people were left homeless, with many displaced individuals residing in schools, parks, and other public spaces. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has estimated the direct physical damage to housing and infrastructure at approximately $37 billion.