Aid worker describes 'shocking' quake destruction
Anna Fraine describes the extent of the damage caused by two earthquakes in June as "just immense".
Aid worker describes 'shocking' quake destruction
An experienced aid worker from Merseyside who is helping coordinate emergency relief after two deadly earthquakes in Venezuela this summer said she had never seen anything like it.
Anna Fraine, from Hoylake in Wirral, is in South America through her role as a programme manager for the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).
A DEC spokesperson said 6,500 people had died after the disaster on 24 June, with more than 86,000 still needing hospital treatment.
Speaking from the capital, Caracas, Fraine told BBC Radio Merseyside that she often travelled to places hit by humanitarian crises to work with local response teams, but "had not seen this level of destruction before".
She said the extent of the damage was "just immense" and that "to see that level of destruction is really quite shocking".
Fraine said there was "a sense of hope but, certainly, the people in Venezuela are very resilient as this was a crisis on top of an existing crisis so they kind of see that they just have to keep going".
She added that people were also pulling together and supporting one another.
Fraine said that in the worst-hit area of La Guaira "up to 80% of the buildings have been severely damaged or destroyed".
She said "just to see that level of destruction is really quite shocking... it's a very challenging situation that I've actually not seen before".
Fraine said people were waiting to watch the tower blocks they had lived in being demolished and that it would "take a long time for people to recover from this", adding that "they lost their jobs and everything in an instant when those two major earthquakes struck".
That was why support for the DEC over two years would be really critical in helping people get back on their feet, she added.
The DEC brings together 15 leading UK aid charities.
Fraine said more than £23m had been raised for its Venezuela earthquake appeal.
She said she had seen firsthand that the money had been helping provide food and medical care for local people, and helping restore water systems in schools and communities.
Anna Fraine, from Hoylake, said it was shocking to see the level of destruction in Venezuela
Fraine said she had previously worked on the emergency response to the 2025 earthquake in Myanmar and in Ukraine.
She said seeing the aftermath of such humanitarian crises had given her "a whole new perspective really on how fortunate" she was to have all her basic needs met in life.
Her involvement with such charities began when she started fundraising for CAFOD - the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development - while at school.
She later worked for them before joining the DEC.
Fraine said this gave her "an awareness of how we are a global community and when disaster strikes what is it that we can do to help"?
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