Pastor Carlos González has served the community of Playa Grande in La Guaira, Venezuela, for 25 years. When powerful back-to-back earthquakes struck the region on June 24, he experienced the terror firsthand as buildings collapsed around his home and hundreds of frightened and injured survivors poured into the streets.
Within minutes, Pastor Carlos moved from survivor to rescuer. He opened his home and church facilities to more than 300 people, helped pull men, women, and children from the rubble, and prayed with families facing unimaginable loss. In the days that followed, he continued serving survivors by providing food, water, comfort, and spiritual care.
Below, Pastor Carlos shares his firsthand account of the earthquake, the desperate search for survivors, and the moments of hope he witnessed amid the devastation.
If you would like to give to help Pastor Carlos and others like him continue to serve their communities in the aftermath of this tragedy, every $50 you give will provide critical aid to one earthquake survivor in Venezuela.
Note: Pastor Carlos shared this testimony in Spanish. His account has been translated into English and lightly edited for clarity. Every effort has been made to remain faithful to his meaning, tone, and voice so you can experience his story in his own words.
Pastor Carlos stood in front of the remains of a building as he shared his testimony
My name is Pastor Carlos González, from La Guaira — specifically Playa Grande. I have been pastoring here in La Guaira for 25 years.
I remember what happened on June 24. At 6 p.m., an alarm sounded on my phone — “ping, ping, ping, ping.” It was terrible. But to me, it was an unfamiliar alarm. My phone was far away, and I didn’t realize that it was an earthquake warning.
At that moment, I was still looking at my phone when suddenly the house began to shake. They first said it was a magnitude 7.2 earthquake. But they say there were only 39 seconds between the first tremor and the second one — the major earthquake — when everything began shaking violently.
We were thrown from one side to the other. There was no opportunity to get out of the house. All I could do was leave myself in God’s hands.
The earthquakes toppled buildings and trapped countless people in the rubble
I looked toward the sky. I did nothing except say, “Lord, I am in Your hands. Father, I don’t know whether this is my time. I don’t know whether I am ready, but I know I am in Your hands.”
I kept looking at the ceiling because the earthquake was so strong that I thought the entire concrete roof was going to come down. But it wasn’t only the shaking. It was also the sound — the noise of all the buildings around us collapsing.
I am not exaggerating when I tell you that every building around us either lost part of its structure or collapsed completely.
My house did not fall. I give glory to God for that. Only three houses in this area remained standing, and I give glory to God.
As soon as I was able to open the door, the first thing I did was go upstairs to rescue one of my daughters, who was seven months pregnant. She came down the stairs and collapsed unconscious at the bottom. We helped her and made sure she was breathing.
But as soon as I saw that she was breathing, I went to another residence across from our house. There were people lying on the ground, rubble everywhere, and people trapped underneath the debris.
Thousands of people have been injured by the quakes
They brought out a young woman who was missing part of a finger and had suffered a serious pelvic injury. She was unconscious and hard to lift. I called out to five people, “Help me! Help me carry her!”
We placed her in a car. She was still breathing at that moment, and her brother began driving her to the hospital. I believe she may have been the first patient they attempted to take there.
But explosions from gas cylinders and all the dust rising from the collapsed buildings blocked the roads and made it difficult for her brother to reach the hospital.
Her brother later told me that she regained consciousness and said, “Brother, take care of my daughters. Take care of my mother.”
At that moment, I believe she suffered a heart attack. Her heart stopped, and she died. That happened only minutes after the earthquake.
After we placed her in the car, people began coming from everywhere — crying, injured, some without clothing, elderly people, children, and women. They were coming out of all the nearby buildings looking for shelter.
At that moment, I opened the gate to my home and the small church facilities that I have there. I began caring for people and giving them water. More than 300 people gathered there, frightened and looking for refuge.
Pastor Carlos and his church became a beacon of hope for survivors
I told my wife, “Stay here. Help them. Give them water and welcome them.”
Then I gathered the men who were there and said, “Let’s go rescue people.”
I came to these buildings here, and we began pulling people out alive.
We were working with the most basic tools: a shovel, a hammer, and a flashlight. We began listening for cries and pulling people from the rubble.
In the building you see here — which machinery has now cleared away — there was a young woman hanging upside down, trapped between two concrete slabs.
All she kept saying was, “Pastor, help me. Pray for me. Pastor, help me. Pray for me.”
I told her, “Hold on.”
I placed a pillow beneath her to support her, and I continued pulling out everyone else I could. She was not easy to free because of the pressure of the concrete around her.
Rescue operations began almost immediately for people trapped under the rubble
When I returned, three people were working to pull her out. Afterward, they brought her here. I brought sheets to cover her because she was extremely cold. It was an unbelievable situation.
Then I went to the next building and began shouting, “Who’s there?”
I went down to the second basement level of the parking garage. There, I found a woman lying on the ground. She called to me for help.
Together with another person who was there, we began carrying her out. I learned that she was the building’s superintendent.
I brought her out as best I could. I questioned her and asked, “Who is still inside?”
She began telling me, “There were this many people on the second floor. There were this many people on the fifth floor.”
Among the people on the fifth floor were three women who attend my church: Isabel, Loli, and Marisela.
I put my hands on my head and began crying and shouting, “How is it possible that they are gone too?”
I told my wife, “We have lost Isabel. We have lost Loli. We have lost Marisela.”
That was still Wednesday.
The destruction was overwhelming, and it will take years to rebuild
At the same time, people were screaming from the building next door. We went there to rescue them.
We improvised stretchers using whatever we could find. Those metal gates you see there were used as stretchers. We placed sheets over them and used them to carry people.
I was desperate. I began praying during the night, but there was no light and no safe way to enter the buildings. The aftershocks continued, so I had to wait until about 6 the next morning, when there was enough daylight to see.
I went back and began shouting. I called out the names of everyone who had been inside.
At about 10:30 in the morning, we heard voices say, “We’re alive! We’re alive!”
There were people inside shouting, but we could not determine exactly where their voices were coming from.
We climbed over the rubble. The concrete slabs were pressed tightly against one another, so it was extremely difficult to reach them.
Then I had the idea of getting a hose from my house. We placed one end of the hose to our ears and moved it around, trying to locate their voices.
We told them, “Hit something! Knock, knock, knock! Don’t stop!”
That is how we found where they were.
We used the hose to give them water and keep them hydrated. All three women were trapped beneath the rubble in that place.
Many people have lost everything, including homes, livelihoods, and loved ones
Their testimony is that when my brother and another man entered to help them, an elevator had fallen on top of them. But the elevator had struck a beam, and the beam became lodged against a column. That kept the elevator from crushing them.
Glory to the name of the Lord.
A small opening, only about 25 to 30 centimeters wide, was created. Through that opening, they were able to pull all three women out and take them to the hospital.
Today, they testify that they never ran out of air. There was a current of air flowing through the space, and they cannot explain where it came from.
They had fallen from the fifth floor almost all the way to the basement, yet somehow air continued flowing into the place where they were trapped.
They are women of God. They said that during the night, they prayed, worshiped, and cried out to God.
They said, “Lord, send help. Help is coming. An angel is coming. Someone will hear us.”
We found them at about 10:30 that morning. By 12:30 in the afternoon, the third woman had been brought out. It was extraordinary.
My brother arrived with an electric grinder. We had been working for a long time and had been unable to cut through the material, but with that grinder, we were finally able to free them.
We continued rescuing people from that building. As the hours passed, though, finding them became increasingly difficult.
Entire communities are struggling to cope in the aftermath
All day Thursday, we rescued people here, rescued people there, and searched for people by following the cries coming from every direction.
One man arrived looking for his wife and his son. I told him, “My brother, we are going to get him out.” But as soon as the man arrived, he found that his son was dead.
He continued searching and found his wife dead too. He fought and fought to free her. He did not want to leave her body there.
He said, “I have to take her so I can bury her.”
There are so many heartbreaking stories.
Nearby, another house sank into the ground, trapping a pregnant woman inside. We helped her husband pull her from the rubble.
Telling these stories is overwhelming, but living through them was far more difficult, seeing the tears of every person.
The rescue work continued on Friday.
By Friday afternoon, I saw that trained rescue workers were beginning to arrive. At that point, I did what I knew I needed to do: I began praying, helping distribute food and coffee, and ministering to the people because organized help was finally arriving.
We are grateful for everyone who has come to help us. We are grateful for every organization, every brother and sister, and every helping hand from other nations that has come to give something to this land.
We love you, and we bless you.
You Can Help Earthquake Survivors in Venezuela
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Pastor Carlos and other local partners have been serving survivors since the earliest days of this crisis — providing essentials like water, food, shelter, prayer, and comfort to families who have lost everything.
But the need is far from over.
Many survivors remain displaced and urgently need essentials. Your gift today will help continue providing lifesaving aid and the hope of Christ to people recovering from this devastating disaster.
Every $50 helps provide emergency relief for one earthquake survivor.