Venezuelans in NZ fundraise for quake survivors

The tight-knit Venezuelan community in New Zealand has been fundraising for survivors of last week's earthquakes that have killed more than 2600 people - with one saying that every second Venezuelan here knows someone who has been affected.

Thousands remain missing and the death toll continues to rise after the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes struck the capital Caracas and its surrounding regions on 24 June.

Maria Elena Billini said she was shocked to learn that two family friends had died in a holiday home in Higuerote when their building collapsed.

Billini was frantically calling family and friends when the news broke. She learned of the sad news from her sister.

She said she was terrified when she could not reach her brother for two hours.

"We were definitely worried, we're talking to each other to see how can somebody reach him, and finally when we got an answer from him, it was obviously a massive relief," she said.

Billini and her daughter Jess Fajardo ran a Venezuelan hotdog fundraiser from their family restaurant in the Auckland CBD on Saturday, to raise money for humanitarian aid agencies on the ground.

Fajardo said every second person in the Venezuelan community in New Zealand knew a friend or family member who had either died or lost their home and belongings in the earthquakes.

There are 198 Venezuelans living in New Zealand, according to the 2023 Census.

Fajardo said the recovery would be long and challenging for Venezuelans, who were not earning much and would be rebuilding with little government help.

Fernando Linares, who moved to New Zealand more than a decade ago, said the last time he visited Venezuela was in 2022, and he felt helpless being so far from home and limited in what he could do.

He said his mother and sister managed to escape from their apartment in Caracas when the earthquake struck.

Cracks had appeared across walls in their building, which had been deemed safe to return to, he said.

His family did not feel safe to be living there but they had no choice, Linares said.

He thought the government response was inadequate and that it might take decades for the country to recover.

"Nobody was prepared for that, not even the country, not a society, no one was prepared for that," he said.