Caracas and its surrounding areas are experiencing “moments of anguish” and “fear” after a new earthquake of magnitude 5.1, followed by a 4.6 tremor. While authorities count at least 1,450 confirmed deaths and search for roughly 50,000 missing people, many locals also report “satisfaction at seeing so much international solidarity” and “hope for a new future.” These impressions are described to Adnkronos by Italian writer and linguist Michele Castelli, originally from Santa Croce di Magliano in Molise, who has lived in Caracas since 1970.

Castelli, professor emeritus at the Central University of Caracas, lives in the El Paraíso neighborhood in the west of the city, an area that suffered less damage and where many Italians and their descendants reside. Speaking from his home, he says his building was largely spared, but “a few hundred meters away a block collapsed with 48 people inside, all of them dead.”

As founder of the Department of Italian and the Institute of Linguistic Research, Castelli says the situation combines anxiety with gratitude: “We are living moments of anguish, but there is also satisfaction in seeing so much international solidarity. Thousands of young local volunteers are risking themselves even in very dangerous conditions. Meanwhile, the death toll is rising and the number of missing runs into the thousands.” Today the body of Enzo Cuomo, a 58-year-old Italian from Laviano who had been listed among the missing along with his wife Trini Adrian, 53, and daughter Isabella, 22, was recovered. “Help from Italy has arrived. The Civil Protection is on the ground and we are grateful for their contribution,” he added.

With aftershocks continuing virtually every day, following initial quakes of 7.5 and 7.2 last Wednesday, Castelli says people live with fear but also with “hope for a new future for the country,” noting that the disaster has weakened the climate of fear that he attributes to the arbitrary actions of Maduro’s government. He adds that people are beginning to speak openly about what they think and to identify those they hold directly and indirectly responsible for the tragedy.