The earthquake struck just hours after more than 100 deportees from the United States were being held at a hotel in La Guaira, Venezuela. The hotel was reduced to rubble in the earthquake. 

Many people are now unaccounted for. Survivors say the situation is dire. 

A plane carrying deportees from Miami, USA, landed in Venezuela just hours before the quake.

According to Ice Flight Monitor, a project run by Human Rights First to provide the public with statistics on people deported by the US government, there were 146 Venezuelans on board, including 19 women and seven children. 

Survivor Lisbeth Portillo, 58, said the government put her in a hotel in La Guerra called the Santorio La Lanada after she returned to Venezuela. She recalled that the earthquake struck shortly after she arrived.  .  About 20 people then escaped from the rubble, she said. 

They were given health checks before the quake and were told they would be sent home the next day.

La Guerra was one of the areas hardest hit by Wednesday's 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes. Some people were seen running barefoot and some were seen walking through the rubble of collapsed buildings. 

"We walked about three miles, and I was crying. There was no communication," Portillo told The Associated Press (AP) by telephone from her home in Maracaibo. "Then we went to the National Guard building." From where I was able to call my relatives.'

'I was reborn; God gave me a second chance,' Portillo said, pausing for a moment before crying. 'I'm mentally devastated.' According to the Venezuelan government, more than 1,700 people have died in the earthquake. A large number are missing. 

Portillo, including Venezuelans, were among those hit by US President Donald Trump's campaign to deport more and more illegal immigrants. Portillo was staying in a room on the second floor with 16 other women. She went out onto the balcony to look at the sea and saw the sky turn black. Then she returned to her room and rested on the bed for a while. Suddenly, she felt herself shaking.

'I started hearing some noises and I saw the women next to me start fighting,' she said, describing the sound and moment of the earthquake. 'They were all screaming for help.'

Soon after, a second earthquake struck. "I fell and was buried under a beam. But the earthquake shook the things I was buried under and I managed to get out," said Portillo, who suffered bruises and cuts all over her body.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A Venezuelan government video posted on social media on Wednesday showed Venezuelan officials welcoming the citizens who arrived at Caracas airport.

Jenny Rodriguez, 24, told the Telemundo network that she was also on the flight and was taken to a hotel.

"I was trapped under the rubble. A friend who was on the same flight came over. I managed to get my hand out of the rubble. "I grabbed his pants and begged for help," she said. "Thank God and him, I was able to get out of there."

Liliana Rojas told Telemundo that she was trying to find her 33-year-old husband. She also contacted the detention center in El Paso, Texas, where her husband was held before being deported. However, the center said it had no information about his situation after his deportation.