The Augustinians in Venezuela and the Earthquake

Last Wednesday, June 24th, like all of Venezuela, the earthquake caught us off guard. We were engaged in our daily activities and services (on holiday break in schools and celebrating the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist in our parishes). Like the faithful, we were not immune to fear and paralysis at that moment; however, there is always something that calls us to calm within our religious community, our families, and civil society.

After the earthquake, we were without electricity and communication for many hours, which caused some uncertainty and anxiety about the well-being of our communities and families. Thanks to technology, a small generator with a router was set up, and we gained access to social media, news programs, and messaging via WhatsApp, which allowed us to grasp the magnitude of what we were experiencing. The first images and videos shocked us and filled our hearts with immense sadness. It was a very long night, without rest, as we listened to the alarms warning of possible aftershocks. But as soon as dawn broke, we dedicated ourselves to opening churches and schools as collection centers, hoping to help those who had lost everything in the tragedy.

We have been working on these tasks for two days now. These are also crucial hours for rescuers searching for survivors and pulling them from the rubble. Our presence has been met with abundant solidarity in the form of supplies such as drinking water, non-perishable food, medicine, hygiene and personal care products, clothing, and shoes. All of this has been sorted and organized by a volunteer group of parishioners and staff, teachers and students, from the youngest altar servers to the oldest, who have not stopped coming to help. This is a sign of our faith and our true fraternity, a community that, faced with pain, decided not to be paralyzed, but to act with hope.

We certainly feel a general mourning, but it is here that faith invites us to recognize and celebrate the miracle of life, and our commitment as religious life in Venezuela demands that we be authentic guides in love and hope.

As a Vicariate, we have held necessary meetings to determine how to allocate resources and overcome the initial sense of urgency. Thus, we are preparing for a second phase: being ready for resource shortages in the coming days and assisting with the collected supplies. We also decided to have specialized engineers inspect the infrastructure of houses, schools, and parishes to determine which are habitable and pose no danger to daily life and activities.

The Vicar, P. Alexander Vieira, OSA, has also met with both CONVER and the Archdiocese of Caracas, which has allowed us to establish guidelines that we are following at each stage.

We are grateful to God for life and want to continue responding to His love with dedication and fraternal charity.

Fr. Mario Herrera, OSA