Earthquake aid keeps flowing from Florida to Venezuela, with help from the U.S. State Department

After her grandmother's house in Caracas narrowly survived last month's devastating back-to-back earthquakes, Alessandra Izaguirre was desperate to help Venezuela. "Seeing my grandma and all these people affected made me feel like I had to do something, even if it was from the U.S.," said the 18-year-old, who has spent the last couple weeks preparing food for volunteers at the Doral, Florida headquarters of the nonprofit Global Empowerment Mission.

The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes struck 39 seconds apart on June 24, killing at least 4,500 people with thousands more still missing. They destroyed and damaged over 850 buildings, leaving 17,000 displaced.

GEM's system, facilitated by the U.S. State Department, has given members of the Venezuelan diaspora an outlet to support the ongoing crisis, and a trusted mechanism to send aid amid widespread concern about theft and corruption on the part of Venezuelan officials.

The effort also underscores the stunning dynamic shift between the U.S. and Venezuela since President Donald Trump ordered then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro's capture in an early morning raid on Jan 3.