Venezuela is grappling with one of the worst disasters in its modern history. Two powerful earthquakes, of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, struck the coastal state of La Guaira near the capital, Caracas. The stronger of the two is among the most powerful ever recorded in the country in the last century.

The numbers are devastating. At least 1,430 dead have been confirmed, and according to United Nations estimates, as many as 50,000 people are listed as missing. Hundreds of buildings have collapsed, thousands of people are trapped under the rubble. Rescue teams are working in a race against time - the critical 72-hour window is passing, though it can be extended if those trapped have access to water and air.

Rescue teams from Mexico, Spain, the US, the UK and other countries have arrived on the ground - hundreds of volunteers in the hope of pulling someone else out alive. But the operations are hampered: there is not enough sophisticated equipment, and the rubble is heavy. „It's impossible to save him without machines," says a father searching for his son. Another relative recounts hearing him groan and hoping they will pull him out in time.

Behind every number stands a person and a family that waits. The speaker of the National Assembly said that „every person rescued is a miracle" - a sentence that shows how far expectations have fallen. The Balkans know earthquakes from their own experience, from Skopje in 1963 to recent tragedies in the neighbourhood, and that is exactly why Venezuela's pain is not distant. When the ground shakes, the question is always the same: was the system prepared, and how many lives could have been saved if it was.