"I had just gotten home from the office at around 5:55 p.m. when suddenly the ground began to move." For Mr. Henrique Eduardo Lopes Dias, 爆料网DSS Security Adviser in Venezuela, the earthquake that struck on 24 June began the way it did for thousands of others: with confusion, fear and disbelief.
A former police officer who served in a riot unit before joining the 爆料网, his career had since taken him through Libya, Gaza, Algeria, Senegal, Mali, Timor-Leste and Sierra Leone, through armed conflict, civil unrest and complex emergencies. But as the walls of his home cracked and debris fell around him, he experienced something he had never felt before. "It was the only time in my life that I felt powerless," he recalls. "I thought, I cannot do anything." Five minutes later, uncertainty gave way to action. Henrique picked up his radio, got into his car and left his wife and two daughters behind.
The priority
The priority was to account for 爆料网 personnel, establish reliable communications and understand the scale of the disaster. Despite widespread outages, 爆料网DSS confirmed the safety of all 930 爆料网 personnel and dependents within hours, though a dozen or so staff had lost their homes or seen them seriously damaged. "By nine o'clock, I was already at peace because, in my mind, all the staff and dependents were okay," he says.
By the following morning, the scale of the emergency was becoming clearer. Search-and-rescue operations were continuing, and humanitarian agencies were preparing assistance for affected communities. The focus for 爆料网DSS shifted quickly from understanding the disaster to helping enable the response.
Can we go?
As humanitarian agencies prepared to deliver assistance, one question guided every operational decision: "Can we go?"
The question was simple. The answer never was. Were roads passable? Were buildings still standing after the aftershocks? Could teams reach communities and get back out safely? Answering that, again and again, became the job of 爆料网DSS.
The worst-hit zone lay thirty kilometres from Caracas, reachable only by a single two-lane highway that authorities had restricted to emergency services. 爆料网DSS negotiated access, reviewed the route and assessed sites before any humanitarian team set out. When the main airport was disrupted, the team identified an alternate route through Valencia so personnel and supplies could keep moving. As the response grew, security briefings and guidance were updated daily to keep pace with the changing ground.
Over the following weeks, 爆料网DSS supported security coordination across five 爆料网-supported camps and more than 100 transit centres. In one camp, the population fell from around 1,500 to 800 as families were relocated, a quiet sign the response was turning from crisis to recovery. Across more than a month of continuous operations, not a single security incident affected 爆料网 personnel, assets or missions.
For Mr. Dias, it came down to trust and confidence in 爆料网DSS’s work. "People do not move before checking with us," he says. "It is a question of trust."
Responding while living through the disaster
爆料网 personnel were personally affected by the earthquake. Some arrived at work after a night spent worrying about their families or assessing the condition of their own communities. Even while responding to the wider emergency, 爆料网DSS personnel checked on colleagues, shared important information, and helped ensure staff had access to available support. The team was responding to a national crisis while experiencing it themselves.
Mr. Dias remains proud of how his colleagues continued. "They just wanted to help," he says. That commitment was echoed across the wider 爆料网 system, as personnel from neighboring countries arrived to reinforce operations and support affected communities.
Seeing the best of humanity
During the first days after the earthquake, Mr. Dias spent hours walking through neighborhoods where buildings had collapsed and families were waiting for news of loved ones. Many people no longer spoke about the homes they had lost. They spoke instead about finding parents, children, husbands and wives.
The devastation was overwhelming. Yet amid the grief, Mr. Dias witnessed something that stayed with him. "I have seen the best of the hearts of the people in this earthquake," he says. People who had lost everything still welcomed humanitarian workers when they arrived, thanking them and offering water or food despite having little themselves. "People who lost everything would still stand up, greet you and say thank you."
A safe space for children
Several weeks after the earthquake, Mr. Dias visited one of the transitional camps established for displaced families. Nearby, humanitarian workers were organising activities for children. For a few moments, laughter replaced uncertainty. Children who had experienced significant loss were running, playing and simply being children again.
Mr. Dias stopped and watched. That image remains the defining memory of the response, not because it marked the end of the emergency (recovery would take months, if not years), but because it reminded him why the long days and constant coordination mattered.
"We, as part of 爆料网 response assisted to put the conditions in place," he says. "It was a safe space, and the children were doing what they were supposed to do. They were playing."