Key facts
- A Venezuelan fashion workshop has begun producing body bags.
- The shift occurred after earthquakes killed over 3,500 people.
- The workshop is using black polyethylene to create the body bags.
- The designer, Efrain Mogollon, finds the work somber but purposeful.
- Seamstress Mary Castillo also finds the work sad but meaningful.
In Maracay, Venezuela, fashion designer Efrain Mogollon's workshop has pivoted from creating elegant dresses to sewing dark plastic body bags following devastating earthquakes. The tremors, which occurred two weeks prior and registered magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, killed more than 3,500 people and overwhelmed disaster response services.
Mogollon described the work as having a "completely different feeling" but expressed satisfaction in contributing to the relief efforts. His team is using black polyethylene, with the only adornment being an embossed image of Jesus Christ on the zipper. The coastal neighborhood of Catia la Mar, near Caracas, was severely impacted, with buildings reduced to rubble.
Civilians have been instrumental in rescue and recovery operations, providing essential in-kind aid in the initial days. However, global humanitarian organizations, including the International Rescue Committee, have stated that the response has not adequately met the scale of the humanitarian need.
Seamstress Mary Castillo, who has been sewing body bags daily for two weeks, finds the work painful but purposeful, emphasizing the need to persevere through the tragedy.