Venezuelan girl's story of grit and survival amongst the rubble
Karina Blanco was about to begin the spinning class she teaches when the ground started shaking. As the tremors intensified, she grabbed her bag and ran outside with others.
"When I realised the magnitude of it, I started screaming 'my daughter, my daughter'. I sat in my car and drove as fast as I could," said Karina.
Her only daughter, 12-year-old Fabiana, was at their home when two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela within seconds on 24 June. The second quake measured 7.5 in magnitude, one of the strongest in a century.
Upon reaching her building in Caraballeda, northern La Guaira state, Karina was shocked.
"I could see one building, then a gap where my building stood, and then another building."
Fabiana was in her mother's bedroom on the first floor of their 10-storey building when the earthquakes hit. She ran to the kitchen and held onto the counter as the walls collapsed around her, throwing her to the ground.
"I saw things shaking, falling, breaking, and then the walls cracked. The wall separating my apartment from a friend's collapsed. At that moment, I thought, 'I'm going to die. I won't survive this. No-one is going to rescue me,'" said Fabiana.
Thus began an agonizing 32 hours.
Outside the collapsed building, Karina saw half of her daughter's bed protruding from the debris.
"I was running from one end of the complex to the other screaming 'She's dead. My daughter is dead'. I didn't know what to do," said Karina.
Underneath the rubble, Fabiana lay face up, trapped on all sides with the ceiling nearly touching her face.
"I'm someone who gets very anxious and claustrophobic. But I don't know why, a strange calm came over me. Maybe my mind was in shock," she said.
Shortly after, a nurse who cared for Fabiana's upstairs neighbours began calling out to see if anyone was alive. Fabiana responded.
"She told me to stay calm and that everything would be alright," said Fabiana.
Six hours after the earthquake, around midnight, the nurse was rescued. She informed volunteers that a girl named Fabiana was still alive inside.
"I had surrendered to God asking for strength to begin a new life without Fabiana. And then someone told me, 'Your daughter is alive'," said Karina.
Karina ran back to the building, shouting her daughter's name into the debris.
Fabiana heard nothing through the rubble.
"For some reason, I had hope and faith," she said. "One of my legs was bent in a painful position, and I moved some of the rubble so I could straighten it out. While doing that I got scrapes and cuts, but I found a bottle of ketchup and some grated cheese. That's what kept me conscious."
At dawn, Venezuelan firefighters arrived and called out for Fabiana but received no reply.
Karina's hope fluctuated between optimism and despair.
"They told me nothing could be done, and they left. I had a sinking thought that maybe she had suffocated to death or had suffered a heart attack. Then a volunteer came up to me and asked me what was going on. He - Viktor - was my hero," she said.
Fabiana found her phone under the rubble. Although there was no signal due to network outages, she recorded a video message hoping to send it to her mother or someone who could help.
"Apartment - Ritamar Palace. There was a tremor and lot of rubble has fallen. There is no light. There is no-one to rescue us. I am alone. Many neighbours are trapped in the rubble. We need your help," Fabiana said in the video.
Meanwhile, Viktor climbed the debris and called out to Fabiana. This time she answered, and he informed Karina.
"I turned to everyone and screamed, 'my daughter is alive'," said Karina. "People started arriving in droves, they started bringing tools. But the firefighters who were there said it was impossible to get through, and they left."
A few hours later, another group of firefighters arrived and promised to rescue Fabiana but were unable to reach her.
Viktor continued to visit the spot to reassure Fabiana.
A rescue team from Caracas was called but arrived after dark.
Karina searched for torches and enlisted help. Seven motorcycles and several cars shone their headlights on the collapsed building.
Gradually, rescuers chipped away at the debris until they created a hole large enough to see Fabiana.
The video of Fabiana smiling and peering through the hole has gone viral in Venezuela.
"After so many hours of being shut in, I was filled with joy when I saw them. I realised I was going to be rescued," said Fabiana.
At approximately 02:00 local time on Friday, 32 hours after the earthquakes, rescuers dug a tunnel wide enough to extract Fabiana. She walked out with support and collapsed into her mother's arms.
"When I came out, I saw my family, I saw the building completely collapsed, and it felt like it wasn't real, like it was a TV series," said Fabiana.
Karina reported that of nearly 50 residents in her building, only three survived.
As of Sunday, 3,342 deaths were confirmed from the earthquakes, with tens of thousands still missing.
Fabiana sustained a fracture in her left foot and some scrapes and bruises but no other injuries.
She now lives with her grandmother.
"Initially I was scared to lie down, especially on my back, as I would remember the time I spent in the rubble," she said.
Outside their current home in La Guaira, many buildings remain collapsed.
"There is a great sadness outside of this house. I feel so much pain when I think of my neighbours and my friends. It will take us a while to recover. But we will move on," said Karina. "What more can a mother want? My daughter is alive."
Additional reporting by Aakriti Thapar, Yesman Utrera, Maria Ines Calderon, Sanjay Ganguly
