NHI expresses concern as earthquakes rock Venezuela, Trinidad & Tobago

Earlier today, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake rocked Venezuela, and was strong enough to have impacted nearby Trinidad & Tobago. As both countries have ties to NHI’s growing global family, the organization’s thoughts are with those people recovering from the not-yet-fully-known effects.

“The National Hispanic Institute is very concerned about today’s news of the earthquake, and the potential aftermath to Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela, and other parts of the Caribbean region,” said NHI Executive Vice President Nicole Nieto. “We have received reports of severe damage from our friends in Trinidad & Tobago, and send them our wishes of strength and courage. We encourage our students in that part of the world to take the greatest care of themselves and their loved ones, and to follow the emergency response systems of their local and state governments.”

At this year’s NHI program in Panamá, the 2018 LDZ Las Americas, José Vidal, who attended’s El Colegio de Panamá in Panamá, Panamá, but from hails from Caracas, Venezuela, was elected President of the House of Representatives. While Trinidad & Tobago has yet to be represented at an NHI program, NHI is recruiting there with an aim to bring them into NHI’s global Latino community in time for the 2019 summer programs.

According to the Miami Herald, “the earthquake was felt strongly in Trinidad and Tobago, and much of the eastern Caribbean including Grenada, Guyana, Barbados and as far north as St. Lucia.” The report also noted, “Electricity and telephone outages were reported in some parts of Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago’s capital. Videos circulating on social media showed groceries falling off store shelves, buildings with cracks, and a piece of a mountain in Chaguaramas along Trinidad’s northwest peninsula falling into the ocean.”

“It’s times like this that we realize just how vast the NHI family network really is,” said Michelle Saenz-Rodriguez, President of NHI’s Board of Directors. “Today, there is rarely an event that occurs in the hemisphere that doesn’t touch our organization at some level. We continue to stand in support our friends throughout Latin America and the Caribbean as they assess the impact of this earthquake.“