Naples Woman Reunites With Mom After Venezuela Earthquake

Sylvia Marmo will never forget the sound of her mother's terrified voice on Wednesday as the ground began to shake beneath Caracas, Venezuela.

The Naples resident received a frantic voice note from her mother, Isabel Gonzalez, who was running for her life as a massive earthquake struck. Then the line went dead, and Marmo could only watch from thousands of miles away as her calls went unanswered.

Gonzalez was sprinting from her living room to the parking lot when the first quake hit. She covered her head as chunks of her house began crashing down around her.

"The scariest part was the screaming, people screaming, and the noises coming from the ground," Gonzalez said. Seconds later, a second, stronger quake struck.

Back in Naples, Marmo desperately searched for information about what was happening. She scrolled through social media, called repeatedly, and found nothing.

"It was absolutely a scary moment," Marmo said. "I started looking on social media, and nobody is posting anything about it."

After hours of agonizing silence, Marmo's phone finally rang. Her mother was alive.

Gonzalez's home sustained major damage, with fractures running throughout the structure and exposed bricks in several areas. She now sleeps on the first floor couch, too afraid to return to her bedroom upstairs in case aftershocks hit.

The trauma runs deeper than the physical cracks in the walls. "She can't forget the noise that she felt and that she heard that day, and it affects you mentally, deeply mentally," Marmo said.

During an interview about the earthquake, another aftershock struck. Gonzalez's expression changed as she paused mid-sentence, feeling the house move beneath her once again.

Sunny's Take

In the midst of terror and destruction, this story reminds us what truly matters. Gonzalez's house may need years of repairs, but she walked away with her life. The emotional scars will take time to heal, but mother and daughter can now heal together, even from a distance.

"If you survive, just be grateful to be alive," Marmo said. "Anything can be rebuilt."

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