South Florida’s Venezuelan communities are expressing concerns for loved ones back home in the aftermath of two powerful and deadly earthquakes that rocked the South American country. As heartbreaking images continue to come in from Venezuela, thousands of people thousands of miles away are fra ntically calling loved ones to check on them. 7News spoke with several of these local residents about their families in the wake of Wednesday’s frightening temblors. “My brother, he’s in Venezuela. He’s in Caracas/Maracaibo, and of course, I called him, and he’s great ,so my first reaction was like, ‘OK, you answer my phone, you’re good,'” said a woman. “We start, you know, calling another family members in Caracas, and they were also good,” said a man. The epicenter of the back-to-back earthquakes was Morón, a town located on the coast of the Carabobo State, about 360 miles west of Caracas. The quakes struck just after 6 p.m., and the images are absolutely devastating. In Doral, home to the largest Venezuelan exile population in the United States, Mayor Christi Fraga posted a message to residents in Spanish in her Instagram stories, saying in part, “We are with all the families waiting for news from their loved ones … In the name of our city, we all give our solidarity.” Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado also took to social media. In an X post, the 58-year-old sent prayers to Venezuelans, writing, “May strength, serenity and solidarity prevail among us in the face of this difficult time.” Fear and anxiety continue to spread in Doral as people await more information. “I’ve never, you know, heard, seen, or felt something like that in Venezuela,” said a woman. “We are waiting to see what is going on, because not everybody is aware of, you know, the impact and the devastation of the city,” said a man. As of Thursday morning, the death toll has risen to 164, with 971 people injured. The Global Empowerment Mission, which is based in Doral, is already mobilizing resources and teams to get over to the impacted communities in Venezuela. If you would like to donate directly to them, click here. For a list of other reputable resources seeking donations, as well as websites registering those who have gone missing following the earthquakes in Venezuela, click here. ...read more read less