Nearly one month after a devastating pair of earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24, leaving more than 5,200 people dead according to CBS News, recovery efforts continue. Amid the ongoing search operations, the rescue of a small cat has offered teams a “ray of hope.”

After the earthquakes hit, Andres Carvajal, a student at Central University of Venezuela, joined with others from the university to form a rescue group.

“We saw the cat, it got scared and went back inside, deeper into the building,” Carvajal told AFP, as reported by CBS. “I went in, took off my glove, put some cat food on my arm… It gradually came closer and, of course, ate with a bit of desperation.”

“I have to say, I’m very happy we managed to find him,” Carvajal said in Spanish. “Above all, since I also have a cat, it’s impossible not to feel empathy for any of the lives that are here. And finding this little kitty is obviously a ray of hope.”

Carvajal’s helmet featured the words “el gato” — Spanish for “the cat” — a nickname he has had since primary school, he told CBS.

The U.S. Geological Survey described the June 24 event as a rare “severe seismic doublet sequence,” meaning two earthquakes of similar magnitude occurred in quick succession. As of July 19, the death toll had reached 5,208, with 16,740 people injured.

Another animal rescue took place just days after the earthquakes, when a frightened but alive puppy was pulled from the debris. Footage captured by journalist Roman Camacho and obtained by Storyful shows firefighters carefully extracting the small dog from the rubble and then giving it water to aid its recovery.

“Here are the rescue teams that have just pulled a small dog out from the rubble where it was trapped,” Camacho says in the video. “Capital District firefighters — always the heroes in stories like this — are working tirelessly to extract survivors from the debris.”

Source: People