Venezuela: Carascas residents describe panic as earthquakes hit

Kolster stayed wedged between the front door and the stone wall in her seventh-storey apartment “for quite a while” before she heard neighbours calling for people to evacuate.

“An hour after the quake, everyone is still outside waiting for safety in case there’s an aftershock,” says the journalist, who lives in Palos Grandes, a prime district in central Caracas which was among the hardest hit by the earthquakes.

Despite it being a weekday, many people were at home as the quakes struck on a national holiday commemorating the 1821 Battle of Carabobo, a decisive victory by Venezuelan independence leader Simón Bolívar against the Spanish colonial power.

Photos and videos emerging from the affected areas show some people in tears and others embracing out on the streets.

“There are people who are very sad, powerless because they couldn’t get their pets out,” Kolster says.

“Others tried to get their cars out of the building basements, fearing an aftershock might make things worse.”

Calls for help could be heard from the rubble of a collapsed building nearby, she adds.