Venezuelans are grappling with a stark question: after years of economic and political strife and now devastating twin earthquakes, can their country recover, or are the cracks just too deep? Rescue teams and neighbors are still searching for survivors as the scale of the disaster comes into sharper focus — more than 1,400 are dead and thousands more remain missing.

Survivors and Missing

Residents have turned to taking essential supplies from stores in the port city of La Guaira, among the worst-hit areas. Food and clean water have become scarce in the city, which is only about 20 miles from the capital but is largely isolated now because of collapsed roadways and damaged bridges.

Many families here are used to living with little. Food costs more than most can earn, even working multiple jobs, and economic crisis combined with a repressive government has driven millions of Venezuelans to seek better lives, in neighboring Colombia or further afield like in the United States, sending money back when they can.

Community Response

Now Venezuelans are coming together to gather water, medicine, food and clothes for those affected by the quakes. Collection sites have also been set up in cities with large Venezuelan populations, like Miami, New York and Madrid.

Some of those not consumed by simply surviving are asking if the response could have been quicker if Venezuela had stronger emergency services with better equipment, or had invested more in hardening its infrastructure against a known risk.

Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.