FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Every new message on Jesus Luna’s phone has become a lifeline.<\/p>\n
The Fresno resident, who was born and raised in Venezuela, has spent the last day anxiously waiting for updates from his family after two powerful earthquakes devastated parts of the country.<\/p>\n
“This was the hospital I was telling you about,” Luna said while scrolling through a video sent by his younger sister, Yelitza. “This is about maybe six blocks from where I grew up.”<\/p>\n
The earthquakes have killed at least 235 people, injured thousands more and left widespread damage across Caracas and surrounding communities. Rescue crews continue searching for survivors as many residents remain trapped beneath collapsed buildings or displaced from their homes.<\/p>\n
For Luna, the tragedy is deeply personal.<\/p>\n
Family of Jesus Luna Impacted By Venezuelan Earthquake. (Photo: Family of Jesus Luna)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“It’s really emotional, and then there is a sense of… you’re just powerless,” he said. “There’s nothing you can do.”<\/p>\n
Luna moved to Fresno as a teenager, graduated from Fresno State and raised a family in the Central Valley. But much of his family \u2014 including three sisters, two brothers, nieces, nephews and cousins \u2014 still lives in Venezuela.<\/p>\n
When the earthquakes struck, he said he immediately began calling relatives.<\/p>\n
“I got the call from my sister,” Luna said. “I immediately started calling people… I couldn’t get ahold of anybody.”<\/p>\n
Hours passed before he finally heard from his loved ones.<\/p>\n
Power outages, internet disruptions and communication failures made it nearly impossible for relatives to reach one another.<\/p>\n
When Luna finally connected with family members, he learned many had spent the night outside.<\/p>\n
“All of them felt the earthquake,” he said. “How are we going to feed the kids? … Most of them are just making soup and trying to make ends meet.”<\/p>\n
As more videos arrived, Luna watched familiar places disappear.<\/p>\n
One photo showed Los Palos Grandes, a neighborhood he knows well.<\/p>\n
To explain the scale of the destruction, Luna compared it to some of Fresno’s busiest shopping areas.<\/p>\n
“Like Fashion Fair, or going through River Park,” he said. “It has that type of look… and all that you see in here are basically some of those buildings collapsing.”<\/p>\n
While the United States and Mexico prepare to deploy elite rescue teams to Venezuela, Luna said he is helping however he can from Fresno.<\/p>\n
“I start sort of like sending a small amount of money… 10 to 15 dollars… so they can communicate with one another,” he said, explaining that the money allows relatives to recharge their phones and stay in contact.<\/p>\n
Luna said he also wanted to share his family’s story to highlight the resilience of the Venezuelan people.<\/p>\n
“I think that the resilience of the people of Venezuela…” he said. “If there is a call for support in terms of the Red Cross or the Salvation Army or any organization truly tied to our institutions… by all means, help out.”<\/p>\n
The We Love Foundation Inc. has launched an emergency relief campaign to support families affected by the earthquakes in Venezuela. A link to donate can be found on the FOX26 website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Every new message on Jesus Luna’s phone has become a lifeline. The Fresno resident,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-375466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}