委内瑞拉，发生了大地震

Today we'll talk about a big event.

It is a very bad one.

It did not happen in China.

It happened in a very, very faraway place.

That place has many people.

Now, many of them are gone.

Their homes are gone too.

Hearing it, our hearts ache.

Why did this happen?

Why are so many people gone?

We all want to know.

What exactly happened to that place?

Let's take it one thing at a time, slowly.

First, where is it?

It is a country, far away from us.

Its name is Venezuela.

Just this month, one night, something terrible happened there.

That night, people were all at home.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake.

The houses shook, the water shook too, and people couldn't even stand.

This is called an earthquake.

An earthquake is the ground moving.

Some earthquakes are small; we barely notice them.

But this earthquake was very big, and very frightening.

And it came twice.

The first had just passed when the second came right after.

Both were big.

Many houses could not stay standing.

They collapsed, floor by floor.

Some buildings were tall — twenty floors.

But in an instant, they collapsed completely.

The people inside had no time to run.

This earthquake killed more than a thousand people.

And many more still cannot be found.

So, why did so many buildings collapse?

Let me give one reason.

Many houses there were old and not sturdy.

They weren't built very well, either.

So when the ground moved, the houses couldn't hold.

After an earthquake, the most important thing is saving people.

People are buried below; the longer it takes, the more dangerous it is.

So everyone is racing against time.

Many countries came to help.

They brought people, and they brought supplies.

Together they search for those still alive.

This may seem far from us.

But did you know?

Among the dead were Chinese people too — eight of them.

So it is actually close to us as well.

Finally, I want to ask you.

Where you live, if an earthquake came, would you know what to do?