Yo, Wednesday was supposed to be a day of rest in Caracas, celebrating the Battle of Carabobo national holiday—shoutout to Simón Bolívar for putting it down back in 1821. But instead of enjoying the day off, the whole city got rocked by two of the biggest earthquakes anyone has ever felt. We talking a 7.2 and a 7.5 hitting back-to-back, seconds apart. People were straight up fighting for their lives as buildings started to collapse and the streets filled with pure panic.

Nicole Kolster, a journalist living up on the seventh floor of an apartment in Palos Grandes, said she felt the whole place shaking violently. She saw her windows moving and did the only thing she could think of—wedged herself right between her front door and a stone wall, praying the building wouldn't pancake on top of her. After holding on for dear life, she finally heard neighbors screaming to get out. An hour later, she and everyone else were still out on the block, too shook to go back inside with aftershocks looming.

On the ground, things were looking heavy. People were out in the streets crying and hugging, completely powerless. Some folks were devastated because they couldn't get their pets out of the shaking buildings, while others were risking their lives trying to drive their cars out of basement garages before the next rumble brought the whole structure down. The scariest part? You could literally hear people screaming for help from underneath the rubble of a collapsed building nearby. No cap, this is as real as it gets.

Over in Palos Grandes, another resident named Maria Elise said the tremors cracked up her apartment walls. When she got outside, the block was a mess—utility poles were snapped on the ground, meaning absolutely no electricity and zero phone signal. When the grid goes down like that during a disaster, you're completely cut off from your people, making an already terrifying situation ten times worse.

Now, Caracas has been through some heavy seismic activity before. Back in 1967, a 6.6 quake hit the city, killing over 200 people and tearing up Palos Grandes and Altamira. But the elders who lived through both disasters are saying this one was way worse. Coro Martinez, a 56-year-old living in eastern Caracas, said her whole house was crashing, with food and jugs flying out of her fridge. And Maria Romero, an 80-year-old pensioner, didn't hold back, saying this quake was 'horrible' and way worse than the one in '67.

Right now, nobody even knows the official casualty count or how bad the damage really is because everything is in shambles. But when you got people trapped under concrete and no power to run searchlights, you know the community is in for a long, painful night. Rescuers and regular neighbors are doing what they can to pull people out, but the system is completely overwhelmed.

When the block is literally falling apart, it’s the everyday people who have to hold it down for each other. With the power grid fried and no cell service, neighbors are having to look out for neighbors, showing what real community solidarity looks like when a crisis hits. Caracas is strong, but this double-tap is going to take a long time to recover from.

Sources: * United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program * Venezuelan Foundation for Seismological Research (FUNVISIS) * Civil Protection and Disaster Management, Venezuela * Archives of the 1967 Caracas Earthquake Disaster