A chilling new video has emerged showing the desperate escape of a man from his apartment building in Venezuela after powerful earthquakes tore through the country, and viewers say it looks like something straight out of a terrifying Hollywood disaster movie.
The raw, shaky footage, filmed from the survivor’s point of view, shows him hurriedly making his way down the stairs as the scale of the destruction becomes more horrifying with every floor he descends.
At first, the damage appears relatively minor, with cracks appearing in the walls and small pieces of debris scattered on the steps. But as he continues downward, the scene turns apocalyptic.
Large chunks of plaster and concrete litter the stairwell. Walls are cracked and crumbling. By the time he reaches the lower floors, massive piles of bricks, rubble and twisted metal block his path, with entire sections of the building appearing to have partially collapsed around him.
The camera shakes violently as the man carefully picks his way through the chaos, his feet visible stepping over debris, while daylight and the outside world become visible through gaping holes in the structure.
Incredibly, the building itself remained standing despite the catastrophic internal damage, a fact many online have described as a miracle.“It looks straight out of a scary Hollywood disaster movie,” one stunned viewer commented after watching the clip, which has been widely shared on social media.
The terrifying scenes come after two powerful earthquakes struck western Venezuela on Wednesday evening. A magnitude 7.2 quake was quickly followed less than a minute later by a 7.5 tremor, according to the US Geological Survey.npr.org
The quakes, among the strongest to hit the country in decades, caused widespread destruction across the capital
Caracas and the surrounding areas. Buildings collapsed into piles of rubble, trapping people inside. The main airport suffered significant damage, with terrified passengers fleeing as ceilings and walls caved in.
Officials have declared a state of emergency, with at least 32 people confirmed dead and more than 700 injured so far. Rescue teams are working through the night amid fears of further aftershocks.
The video perfectly captures the sheer terror faced by residents as they tried to flee to safety while their homes and workplaces disintegrated around them.
One moment, the man is carefully stepping over cracked concrete on an upper floor. Next, he is navigating what looks like the aftermath of an explosion – huge mounds of bricks and concrete blocking the stairs, with daylight streaming in through massive breaches in the walls.
The final frames show him emerging into the open air amid piles of rubble, with other survivors and a car visible in the background.
The footage has left millions gripped with fear and fascination, with many comparing it to dramatic scenes from blockbuster films like San Andreas or Earthquake.
