Venezuela earthquakes death toll rises to at least 2,595 | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:00Venezuela's interim president, Delcy
2. 0:02Rodriguez, says that almost every
3. 0:04official in La Guaira state, at the
4. 0:06epicenter of last week's powerful twin
5. 0:09earthquakes, died in the event. Nearly
6. 0:122,600
7. 0:14people are now known to have been killed
8. 0:16across Venezuela, and rescue efforts are
9. 0:18ongoing. Earlier on Thursday, a man was
10. 0:21pulled alive after more than a week
11. 0:23trapped under the rubble of a
12. 0:24multi-story car park. Well, Ms.
13. 0:27Rodriguez added that there would be no
14. 0:28mass graves following the earthquake
15. 0:31amid growing criticism around the
16. 0:32preparedness of authorities. Our
17. 0:35correspondent, Yogita Limaye, was at the
18. 0:37scene for the rescue in La Guaira. She
19. 0:39sent us this report.
20. 0:41>> It was a moment that had been in the
21. 0:43making for days.
22. 0:45Scores of rescuers had worked for more
23. 0:47than 100 hours, and then it happened.
24. 0:53A man who had been trapped in a
25. 0:54collapsed underground parking lot was
26. 0:57recovered on day nine after the
27. 0:59earthquake.
28. 1:02Hernan Hill worked as a security guard.
29. 1:05He's a husband and the father of two
30. 1:07children.
31. 1:08He'd survived and not been crushed, but
32. 1:10the path out was blocked.
33. 1:13>> There it is. I'm watching the moment as
34. 1:16this man who's been under the rubble.
35. 1:19It's now day nine. It's day nine, and
36. 1:21this man has been pulled out
37. 1:23successfully. It's taken a mammoth
38. 1:25mammoth rescue effort. People are trying
39. 1:28to stay quiet here. There's a lot of joy
40. 1:31in the air, but they're trying to stay
41. 1:32quiet here because this is a man who's
42. 1:34been underground, who was in this
43. 1:36cramped position for days and days,
44. 1:37didn't know whether he was going to
45. 1:39survive, and now, wow, he has been
46. 1:42pulled out.
47. 1:44>> This is the passage to the basement
48. 1:46where Hernan was trapped.
49. 1:48Rescuers had to clamber through a
50. 1:49crevice, calling out to him.
51. 1:53Can you hear me?
52. 1:54Be patient, they told him.
53. 1:56Then they managed to suspend a camera so
54. 1:59that they could see him. They also gave
55. 2:01him water and supplements through a
56. 2:02pipe.
57. 2:06Victor Torres was among the first to
58. 2:08make contact with him underground.
59. 2:12Hernan is well and healthy and he's on
60. 2:14his way to meet his family. From Chile
61. 2:16and all of the Americas, firefighters
62. 2:18from different countries came together
63. 2:20to rescue him, Victor told us.
64. 2:25We've been following their operation
65. 2:26closely. A day earlier, rescue teams had
66. 2:30built wooden props to hold up the walls
67. 2:31[music] so that when they drilled
68. 2:33through to reach him, nothing would
69. 2:35collapse and crush him.
70. 2:38Just before his rescue, we spoke to his
71. 2:40wife, Luz Bima Gonzalez.
72. 2:44I'm very excited and thankful to God
73. 2:46because he gave him another chance to
74. 2:47live. People shouldn't lose faith and
75. 2:49should pray a lot. There might be others
76. 2:51alive under the rubble like my husband,
77. 2:54she said.
78. 2:58These are the moments that are keeping
79. 2:59rescuers and people going in Venezuela.
80. 3:05As they face the aftermath of a brutal
81. 3:07disaster.
82. 3:08Yogita Limaye, BBC News, La Guaira.