Houston community rallies after deadly earthquakes : NPR
Messages of hope and support cover a wall beside a Venezuelan flag at MetaBox Cargo in Katy, Texas, on Thursday.
Lucio Vasquez/The Texas Newsroom
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Lucio Vasquez/The Texas Newsroom
KATY, Texas — Arianna Regardia had just gotten to her mother’s house when she saw the news Wednesday night. She saw apartment buildings reduced to heaps of concrete. She saw emergency crews digging through mountains of rubble, trying to reach people trapped deep within.
She saw the devastation wrought by two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela’s northern coast just hours earlier.
Regardia immediately called her grandmother, who lives in the capital of Caracas, near the epicenter of the quakes.
After a few seconds on the phone, she got an answer on the other side of the line. Her family was safe.
But relief quickly gave way to a different feeling: the need to help.
About 12 hours later, Regardia stood in a narrow cargo garage in this city about 30 minutes west of Houston, where bags of canned tuna, diapers and Advil lined the floor as volunteers sorted donations into cardboard boxes.
Regardia arrived Thursday morning to drop off hygiene items like pads, tampons and body soap. But shortly after, she was helping pack boxes as more and more donations came in.
“One thing I admire about being Venezuelan is our resilience,” Regardia said, as tears welled in her eyes. “Being there for each other and just supporting each other during the tough times.”
Regardia is one of roughly 83,000 Venezuelans living in the greater Houston area, home to one of the nation’s largest Venezuelan communities, according to the Pew Research Center. She said it’s been difficult to watch the disaster unfold from thousands of miles away.
“Being far away from your family, and being on the outside…it’s very important for us to come together and support our people,” Regardia said.
Arianna Regardia sorts donations at MetaBox Cargo in Katy, Texas, on Thursday. Regardia joined volunteers packing food, hygiene items and other essentials for earthquake survivors in Venezuela after learning her family back home was safe.
Lucio Vasquez/The Texas Newsroom
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Lucio Vasquez/The Texas Newsroom
The Wednesday evening quakes — a 7.2-magnitude foreshock followed less than a minute later by a 7.5-magnitude quake — killed at least 235 people and injured roughly 4,300 others, according to Venezuelan officials and the U.S. Geological Survey. Officials say hundreds of people may still be trapped under debris.
On Thursday, the Trump administration pledged $150 million for relief efforts.
The U.S. military, which has had a heightened presence in Venezuela since the January arrest of then-President Nicolás Maduro on drug charges, said that it will provide aircraft to help support search-and-rescue operations and deliver aid, according to the U.S. Department of State.
In response to the quakes, several donation sites opened across the Houston area as members of the city’s Venezuelan community rushed to help from more than 2,000 miles away.
Organizers said the supplies would be shipped to Venezuela as soon as possible, though damage to Caracas’ main airport could complicate those efforts.
Similar donation efforts emerged across the U.S., where an estimated 1.2 million Venezuelans lived as of 2024, according to the Pew Research Center.
“We are outside the country, the only way we can help is — our stuff. Clothes, food, something to send to Venezuela to help,” said Alberto Avila, who dropped off three bags of canned food and clothing at Mi Querencia Latin Market, another donation site in Katy.
Jesus Nunez, owner of MeetaBox Cargo in Katy, Texas, helps sort donated food, hygiene supplies and other essentials during a donation drive on Thursday.
Lucio Vasquez/The Texas Newsroom
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Lucio Vasquez/The Texas Newsroom
Outside the market, volunteers dressed in the Venezuelan flag’s yellow, blue and red greeted arriving donors. One woman quietly wiped away tears as more donations came in. By midafternoon, donation boxes were piling up inside along the market’s aisles.
“That’s what Venezuelans do for our people,” Avila said. He also feared for relatives in Venezuela, but later learned they were safe.
Within the same hour, Amelia Millan handed bags of donations to volunteers. She said she’s been in the U.S. for about 21 years, and like her compatriots Regardia and Avila, she worried for the safety of her family back in her home country.
Thankfully, they were safe, though many of her family member’s homes were badly damaged.
“I wish I could get on a plane and be there right now, believe me, my heart and my mind are there right now,” Millan said. “It’s very hard to concentrate on work or anything else, but this is something else we can do.”
By late afternoon, the two donation sites buzzed with the sounds of ripped packing tape and conversations in Spanish. Inside the hot garage at MetaBox Cargo, between packing supplies, many paused to write messages of hope and support on the wall beside a Venezuelan flag.
One message read: “Estamos contigo, Venezuela.”
We are with you, Venezuela.
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