Nature can sometimes pursue a single family with relentless tragedy, leaving virtually no time to heal or recover. After losing their home, mother, grandmother, and younger brother to catastrophic earthquakes in Venezuela, two teenage brothers relocated to Colombia to rebuild their shattered lives. Yet, barely three days after settling into their new surroundings, the earth violently shook once more. The severe seismic event in Cali reopened trauma that both teenagers were desperately attempting to process. For 15-year-old Deivi Delfín and his 17-year-old brother Winder, this unrelenting series of disasters has permanently stripped away any remnants of childhood innocence.
The Twin Seismic Catastrophes in La Guaira
This harrowing ordeal began on June 24 along the Caribbean coastline of Venezuela in the hard-hit region of La Guaira. Within a span of just 39 seconds, two powerful earthquakes registered at magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 ripped through the territory. Earlier that evening, Deivi and Winder had gone out to the beach. Winder had repeatedly tried to persuade their mother, Yusmani, to let their 10-year-old brother Moissés come along, but she stood firm on grounding him. Despite Winder's persistent pleas, his mother refused to change her mind.
As the two teenagers walked back toward their residential neighborhood later that evening, the ground suddenly erupted into violent tremors. Terrified, the brothers embraced each other tightly and clamped their eyes shut. When they finally opened them, the air was choked with dense dust and pulverised building materials. Upon arriving at their street, they discovered that their 12-storey apartment building had completely pancaked into a massive heap of shattered concrete. Trapped beneath the mountain of debris were their mother Yusmani, grandmother Carmen, and young Moissés. Official figures released by the Venezuelan government confirmed that more than 6,300 people lost their lives in the disaster, while no definitive count of the missing has ever been established.
A Month-Long Desperate Search Through the Rubble
The three days immediately following the collapse were a nightmare of survival for the young brothers, who were left with no food to eat and no shelter in which to sleep. Their father, Deivid, had been working in Colombia when the catastrophe occurred. He rushed back to Venezuela immediately, but spent three grueling days searching through chaos just to locate his surviving sons. Once reunited, the family embarked on a desperate recovery effort among the ruins that would span nearly a month.
Deivid understood the extreme danger of crawling through unstable rubble, but his teenage sons adamantly refused to stop searching for their family members. Because of their slim teenage frames, Deivi and Winder were uniquely able to squeeze through narrow gaps between massive concrete slabs. Illuminating their path with only mobile phones and small hand-held flashlights, they squirmed into perilous voids to identify key locations where heavy rescue teams needed to excavate. The horrific nature of the work forced them to mature instantly. As the days wore on, they began turning up heartbreaking artifacts of their former household, including Moissés's shorts, Yusmani's Bible, and an uncompleted grocery shopping list, signaling that they were closing in on what used to be their home.
Recovering Their Fallen Family Members
Progress came mournfully when Deivi spotted a colorful scrap of cloth amid the gray concrete and recognized it as his grandmother Carmen's floral pattern skirt. Shortly afterward, emergency firefighters confirmed the discovery of a woman's body. Soon after, Winder was the first to spot his mother, Yusmani. Before leaving for the beach on the day of the quake, Winder remembered his mother had been applying hair dye, wearing a protective plastic bag over her hair. That same plastic covering was still intact on her head when he found her in the rubble. Winder crawled as close to her as physically possible, spending a few quiet moments by her side.
Recovering her body proved exceptionally difficult because it was pinned under a heavy concrete slab. As workers carefully shifted the heavy structure, they discovered young Moissés beneath it. The 10-year-old boy was still holding onto his mother in his final moments. Seeing his youngest child in such a state caused Deivid to collapse emotionally. He broke down completely when his son's head rested in his hands. After organizing proper burials for their loved ones, Deivid took his two remaining sons to Colombia to start anew.
Relocation to Cali and the 7.4 Colombia Earthquake
Seeking stability, the family established a modest home in a working-class neighborhood of low-rise houses situated in the north-eastern outskirts of Cali, Colombia. Deivi and Winder were determined to dedicate themselves to hard work and education so their late mother would be proud of them. Their father secured employment nearby at a local barbershop.
However, the fragile peace was shattered on Monday when Colombia experienced its most powerful earthquake of this century, a magnitude 7.4 event that claimed several hundred lives nationwide and left many more missing. Cali was once again among the areas hardest hit by the destruction. Deivi was sleeping when the initial shaking began; the movement was gentle at first, leading him to think he was dreaming. When the tremor rapidly intensified, he scrambled out of bed and raced downstairs, with Winder following right behind him. Once outside, the brothers gripped a heavy metal gate on the street and waited out the violently shaking earth.
An Emotional Reunion Outside the Barbershop
Their father Deivid was out on the street when the tremor struck. Realizing the severity of the quake, he immediately feared for his sons and sprinted back home. Finding the house empty, panic set in until a neighbor mentioned seeing the boys run outside. Deivid searched frantically through the chaotic streets until he reached the barbershop where he works, where he finally found his sons waiting unharmed.
Seeing their father in deep distress, the boys moved to comfort him, urging him to remain calm and reminding him that they had already survived a similar tragedy together. Though two consecutive natural disasters have burdened these young brothers with profound grief and loss, their resilience continues to guide them as they strive for a peaceful future.
