Spray-painted letters spell tragedy for Venezuela quake victims

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela - Dozens of crumbling buildings in Venezuela’s decimated earthquake zone bear a spray-painted letter ‘D’ – a sign that buries any hope of finding life beneath the rubble.

The letter ‘D’, which stands for “deceased,” is one of the UN-approved symbols being used by search-and-rescue missions in Venezuela, one week after deadly twin tremors struck the country.

Not everyone heeds the finality of the message, however, as frantic family and friends refuse to give up on loved ones trapped under the debris.

The marking appears on “the vast majority” of buildings destroyed in La Guaira, north of Caracas and the worst-hit region, Spanish rescue group coordinator Javier Rodes told AFP.

The letter ensures that “time isn’t wasted in a place where there is no expectation of recovering people alive,” he told AFP.

The quakes of 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude killed almost 2,000 people, official figures showed, while the United Nations estimated 50,000 more are missing.

The disasters also damaged or destroyed more than 58,000 buildings, according to a preliminary assessment of satellite data published by US space agency NASA.

Helen Guedez and her brother have chosen to disregard the ominous letter colouring the wall of the building that previously housed their dad, sister and grandmother.

As a backhoe cleared broken pieces of heavy walls, the siblings picked tirelessly through the mountain of tangled rubble.

“The building split starting at the sixth floor and the lower floors ended up underground,” Guedez said, with only two survivors pulled from the collapsed nine-storey structure so far.

“We are going to keep searching because we would like to recover our relatives’ bodies and give them a dignified burial,” she said.

Other spray-painted letters flag risks and indicate the condition of the marked buildings, which may either be restored or declared uninhabitable.

Venezuelan police use the letter ‘X’ to signal that a building is damaged beyond repair and should be demolished.

Like Guedez, many residents pushed on with their desperate search despite the signposting.

“We’re trying to at least recover the bodies,” was the common refrain.

The critical 72-hour window during which survivors were still likely to be found closed on the evening of June 27. AFP