Overview
- Search teams have continued intensive rescue work for 14 days after the double earthquake that toppled the Miramar building in La Guaira.
- Lucas Gámez remains missing after being inside the Miramar building with his uncles when the collapse occurred and has not been located by rescuers.
- On his ninth birthday the family held a symbolic tribute outside the ruined building with a cake and messages from his classmates to keep hope alive.
- Lucas’s father said a substantial program of rubble removal is still needed and that teams will reassess tactics based on new voids and access points created by that work.
- The pair of quakes, reported at magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, caused broad structural damage that complicates safe debris removal and will determine whether search efforts can be expanded or rerouted.