Four bags of intravenous fluids hang from the ceiling of a McDonald’s restaurant converted into a clinic in the wake of the twin earthquakes in Venezuela, as thousands flock to makeshift health centers at the epicenter of the disaster.The double earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2 and 7.5, struck the state of La Guaira, which lacks the capacity to provide comprehensive care in hospitals after widespread destruction, the collapse of dozens of buildings, and more than 2,900 deaths.Carles Figueroa, a 33-year-old surgeon and disaster relief volunteer, said a McDonald’s restaurant in the hard-hit Caraballeda area was receiving dozens of people suffering from “hypertensive crises, anxiety attacks and diarrhea symptoms.”The facility has become a temporary field hospital, including a triage area, a pharmacy, a storage area, and spaces for psychiatric and veterinary care. More than 30 doctors like Figueroa treat the victims there.Nearly 4,000 patients were treated at another temporary health center set up inside the bus station in Catia la Mar.The first victims were taken to only two hospitals, but they were overwhelmed within hours after one of Latin America’s worst earthquake disasters.
“It was horrific, the bodies in the street, the morgue couldn’t keep up, the dead in the street, decomposing,” said Maria Jose Pino, an obstetrician and gynecologist who works at the station’s health center.Benue also survived the earthquake. She said the seismic alert on her cell phone saved her life by allowing her to get out of her home. With her leg injured and not broken, she has been caring for patients who have been streaming in since the beginning of the disaster response.(This is an AFP story)
