A race against time to save people from the rubble of consecutive deadly earthquakes in Venezuela has left the country's Australian diaspora feeling helpless.
Documentary film-maker Isabella Plaza in Sydney is trying to stay grounded as she tries to maintain constant contact with her twin sister Constanza in La Guaira.
Constanza is at the epicentre of the quakes that have killed more than 1900 people, helping in rescue efforts and working with international journalists.
Ms Plaza has heard from friends who have had to pull family members out from under collapsed buildings and knows others who did not survive.
"It's shocking to be able to love your country so much but also feeling like we have our hands tied," she told AAP.
Fortunately, her sister had left her home the day before the earthquake hit and completely obliterated the apartment.
Some 59,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed by the twin earthquakes on June 24 — which hit seconds apart with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5.
The overwhelming feeling for Venezuelans is grief, even if they have not lost loved ones, Ms Plaza said.
"It is entire buildings with grandmas and kids trying to get out of there with no military, no policemen, no firemen, no hospitals - no nothing."
Despite being active in the small diaspora community by organising fundraisers that gathered more than $10,000, she feels helpless at the scale of the tragedy.
"We're trying to do what we can, so the pain doesn't overwhelm us," Ms Plaza said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong confirmed the Australian government is providing consular assistance to seven individuals affected by the devastating earthquakes.
Ms Plaza, who migrated to Australia a decade ago, said she left because the political situation in her homeland had been deteriorating for decades.
Her work as a photojournalist had attracted the ire of the authorities and she has been critical of the weak government response to the earthquakes.
Health-worker Renata Moreno Lopez, 35, sought asylum in Australia for her political activities as a student organiser.
The former GP said some of her colleagues have been killed and she is organising fundraisers in Sydney to send money to embattled hospitals in Venezuela.
"It's hard, because whatever the memories that I have also doesn't exist anymore ... La Guaira has become an empty space," she told AAP.
"It's not just impact of the earthquakes, it's impact of years of not having access to the minimum requirements as a human being."
The South American country has received support from 30 nations, including 1000 metric tonnes of supplies, more than 3600 rescue and support workers, as well as some 120 search-and-rescue canines.
But the government's rescue efforts have been decried for being slow as hopes fade that more survivors will be found.
The disaster has come after former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was captured by the US in a surprising operation in January and replaced with an interim president.