Robert Torres lost nine family members, including his granddaughter, in the devastating earthquakes that struck Venezuela. Even as he grappled with his own grief, he became a volunteer rescuer, first helping search for survivors and later recovering bodies from the rubble.
Nearly two months later, he is still helping recover bodies in La Guaira, one of the areas hardest hit by the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes. Each recovery reminds him of his own relatives and forces him to confront a pain that, he admits, “has been very difficult for me” and “is not easy.”
“Psychologically, this has affected me quite a bit,” he acknowledges. The pain of witnessing the devastation is intertwined with memories of his own family members, including his 8-year-old granddaughter, whose death, he says, “took me out of circulation.”
Torres, 59, is one of thousands of Venezuelans who, in addition to coping with the loss of family members, homes and livelihoods, are struggling with the psychological aftermath of the earthquakes.
For many, the tragedy did not end when the ground stopped shaking. The pain, memories of what they experienced and images of the destruction linger, affecting their daily lives.
“As a human being, it hurts me to see this whole situation. And on top of that, knowing that my family members were among those who were there, among the rubble, causes me even more pain,” he said in an interview with el Nuevo Herald from La Guaira.
Each time he helps recover a body — he has helped recover nearly 80 — he confronts scenes that stay with him long after his work is done.
“I cry when I am taking out a deceased person and I see a family member identifying them and crying. But they also say, ‘thank you because you got them out, I’m going to give them a Christian burial.’ I take that image home with me,” he says.
Torres tries to find ways to clear his mind. He reads. He also turns to valerian drops and Bach flower essences, which he says help him relax and sleep.
Clara Astorga, president of the Federation of Psychologists of Venezuela, says the emotional well-being of Venezuelans in the aftermath of the earthquakes has been “extremely affected.”
She explains that, in an instant, some people lost family members, homes, belongings and part of their personal history. Compounding those losses is the uncertainty of not knowing whether they will ever be able to regain the lives they had before the tragedy.
Among the reactions they have observed are confusion, hopelessness, sadness, hypervigilance, anxiety, fear of the future and other trauma-related symptoms.
The psychologist says these emotional responses are normal following an extreme experience such as the powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24.
She also warns that suicidal ideation can emerge after a disaster, with some people expressing thoughts of taking their own lives. Psychologists have identified such cases and intervene to assess the risks, support the person and help them find alternatives.
Astorga says psychological and medical care teams were deployed to the affected areas after the earthquakes.
The federation, universities and various governmental and nongovernmental organizations began working to support those affected and help them process an experience that, she explains, can have lasting consequences if not properly addressed.
“Everything that is not processed at the time can later turn into symptoms or more significant disorders,” she warns.
Yésica Serrano, regional adviser for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action at the NGO Plan International, warned a month after the earthquakes that the situation facing children and adolescents required special attention.
In the camps, aid workers were seeing physical ailments with no clear cause, along with signs of post-traumatic stress and a constant sense of insecurity.
Those symptoms reflected weeks of interrupted sleep, heightened startle responses and accumulated fear, she said.