Nayarit Colmenares did not know how much time she had spent beneath the concrete. Two days, she calculated afterward, without seeing anything, breathing dust and gas, listening to water seep through the rubble of the Palmar Este 1 building in Caraballeda, La Guaira. Each time she reached out to feel around the space, something sharp sliced her skin.
Down there, between the concrete and spilled paint, she found the body of her husband, Henry. The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes that shook northern Venezuela had taken him while she remained trapped, breathing the same air he no longer did.
They rescued her alive. But the wound in her right hand became infected, and doctors in Caracas gave her only one option: amputate it before the infection reached her bloodstream.
Today, Nayarit, an architect and illustrator, feels palpitations and electric shocks in the fingers she no longer has, and practices signing her name and painting with her left hand while her sister tries to raise 100,000 euros for a bionic prosthesis. “Losing my husband hurts me more than losing my hand”, she said.
