Fake news about quake victims gives Venezuelans false hope

CARABALLEDA, Venezuela — Fake news that people in Venezuela's quake zone have been discovered alive a month after the disaster struck is circulating rapidly across social media.

Bereaved relatives are continuing to search for loved ones trapped under the rubble of flattened buildings following the 7.2 and 7.5 tremors that struck northern Venezuela on June 24.

On Wednesday night, a false claim that three people had been found alive in the worst-hit city of La Guaira's OPP 26 housing complex spread across social media.

The disinformation made an already extremely difficult situation even worse for families with missing relatives.

Clinging to hope, some of them rushed to the site.

“They shouldn't be twisting that information, because it gives you hope, and you know those things are impossible,” Naiti Sarria told AFP as she wiped away tears.

Sarria has spent the past month looking for her 74-year-old mother-in-law Olga Hernandez, who lived in one of OPP 26's 12-story buildings.

“For God, nothing is impossible,” said Sarria, but “it's wrong to play with the feelings of the people who are here…It makes me sad.”

Venezuela's civil protection agency issued a statement to clarify that “alleged rescues of survivors” at that address were “false.”

The quakes killed over 5,000 people and injured almost 17,000 more, while over 23,000 people in the coastal state of La Guaira have been made homeless.

The United Nations estimates that up to 50,000 people are missing following the tragedy.

 

 

Source: Manilatimes