When a 7.5‑magnitude quake hit coastal Venezuela on 24 June, 12‑year‑old Fabiana was caught beneath the collapsed walls of her family's apartment building in Caraballeda.
She survived more than 32 hours of darkness and crushing dust, drinking ketchup and eating grated cheese that she found hiding behind the wreckage. In a quiet, intense moment of desperation, the young girl reported that the ketchup and cheese, along with a sudden sense of calm, kept her consciousness alive.
The rescue team first arrived later that night. Firefighters explored the rubble but were unable to reach Fabiana until a volunteer named Viktor—who had been on the scene for hours—continued to call her from a precarious position, eventually prompting her voice. In a video she recorded beside her phone, Fabiana urged that rescue teams reach her and praised the volunteers.
By 2:00 a.m. on the following day, bulldozers, shovels and the patience of volunteer rescuers had cleared a tunnel large enough to pull Fabiana toward the surface, where tears of joy marked her reunion with her mother, Karina. The family made a tearful walk back to their failing building, where the only survivors were the mother, the daughter and one other resident.
The quakes left at least 3,342 dead and tens of thousands missing, yet Fabiana’s story offers a beacon of resilience. She recovered physically, suffering only a fractured left foot and a few cuts, and is now living with her grandmother while the community works to rebuild the shattered neighborhoods.
In dearest moments the image of ketchup and cheese reminded Fabiana of ordinary comforts now precious. Her survival earned her local hero status in Venezuelan media, and her video went viral across social networks.
