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From the Thunder Cut workshop, Veronica Silva and Joel Tovar responded to the earthquake in Venezuela with puzzles and Ludo games starring the sniffer dog, to alleviate the trauma of families who were left homeless
On a workshop bench in Caracas, dozens of colorful cards pile up with the drawing of a dog with attentive ears. These are puzzles coming out of the laser cut, one by one, in the midst of the country’s worst crisis in decades. After the earthquake in Venezuela that killed more than 3,000 people and left more than 17,000 homeless, the couple Veronica Silva and Joel Tovar produced 1,000 sets of toys to donate to children in temporary shelters in Caracas, according to the VietnamPlus agency, in a report from July 9, 2026.
And the toys have a protagonist. The games are inspired by the rescue dog Tsunami and other working dogs that operated in the rubble, reports VietnamPlus. The idea is simple and sharp: to put in the hands of children the most beloved character of the tragedy.
The earthquake in Venezuela: two tremors separated by 39 seconds
The size of the disaster explains the size of the gesture. Two earthquakes, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, hit northern Venezuela with only 39 seconds apart on June 24, 2026, toppling entire residential buildings in Caracas and La Guaira, according to Forbes magazine, in a report from July 1, 2026.
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In observation from this editorial, duly noted: it is worth recording that the death toll from the earthquake in Venezuela increased over the days. Forbes, on July 1, mentioned more than 1,700 victims; VietnamPlus, already on July 9, recorded more than 3,000. This article uses the most recent data, attributed to VietnamPlus, because disaster counts rise as the rubble is searched. In any version, the toll is a tragedy of thousands of lives and tens of thousands of homeless people.
Who is Tsunami, the dog who became a puzzle
The story of the honoree explains why she was chosen. Tsunami is a border collie with one blue eye and one brown eye who was rescued from abandonment and mistreatment in 2017, still a puppy, and later trained as a search dog to find people inside collapsed structures, according to Forbes.
In reading this editorial, duly noted: notice the mirror of the story. The dog that was once rescued began rescuing people in the rubble of the earthquake in Venezuela, and now becomes a toy to rescue the childhood of those who lost their homes. It is a symbol embraced by the population, and it makes perfect sense in the hands of a frightened child: her hero is not a distant superhuman, but a dog, something any child understands and loves.
From the Thunder Cut workshop to the shelters: how the 1,000 toys were born
The couple’s project is not an impromptu occasion. Veronica and Joel produce the toys with the machines, experience, and resources of their own workshop, Thunder Cut, and the production will continue as long as families remain evacuated, according to VietnamPlus.
The chosen format also makes sense. They are puzzles and Ludo games, designed so that children temporarily forget the pain and reduce psychological trauma after the disaster, reports VietnamPlus. In observation of this editorial, duly noted: puzzles and Ludo are not screen games, they are tabletop games, played in groups, on the floor of a shelter, with other children and adults nearby. For those sleeping in tents next to strangers, a game that brings people together is worth more than any electronic device.
There is also a silent agreement in the choice, in a noted reading of this editorial: both games create routine. Puzzles have a beginning, middle, and end; Ludo has turns, rules, and rematches. After a disaster, this is exactly what a child misses, something small they can control from start to finish, on a day when nothing else is in place. And the fact that production continues as long as there are evacuated families, as the couple assured VietnamPlus, turns the gesture into a commitment: it was not a batch of donations, it was a production line opened with an indefinite deadline.
Why a toy matters in a disaster shelter
It may seem like a detail in the face of fallen buildings, but it is not, in a noted reading of this editorial. A child who lost their home loses their entire routine: school, their room, friends, their own toy. In this void, a simple game returns a piece of normality and occupies the mind that, without it, remains stuck in the shock. It is no coincidence that VietnamPlus itself describes the goal of the games as alleviating the psychological trauma of children, not just distracting them.
And the choice of the dog Tsunami as a character completes the reasoning. Instead of a generic superhero, the couple placed on the cards the real figure that was outside the tent, sniffing through the rubble. The child assembles the puzzle of a hero they themselves saw pass by. It is solidarity with an address, made of laser-cut wood in a workshop in Caracas.
It is still worth giving credit to the manufacturing format, as noted by this editorial. A workshop like Thunder Cut, which already worked with laser cutting, managed to transform its commercial production line into a donation factory without changing machines. It’s the kind of repurposing that multiplies the reach of a charitable gesture: instead of buying a thousand ready-made toys, the couple used what they already had, the machinery and the knowledge, to produce at home. Any small entrepreneur who has faced a nearby disaster understands the value of this, because it shows that helping doesn’t just depend on money, it also depends on know-how.
That’s why the case of the earthquake in Venezuela made news beyond the country’s borders. It’s not just another tragedy number, it’s an example of a creative response that any community could copy: identifying what the children in a shelter lack, using a local skill, and turning it into real comfort. The dog Tsunami gave the face; the workshop gave the hands.
What the earthquake in Venezuela left for the children in shelters
The numbers tell the size of the line waiting for these toys. More than 17,000 people were left homeless by the earthquake in Venezuela, according to VietnamPlus, and many of them in temporary shelters hastily set up in Caracas, exactly where the couple makes the deliveries.
In a reading noted by this editorial: Brazilians know this scene well, having seen it in Brumadinho, on the northern coast of São Paulo, and in Rio Grande do Sul, where donated toys became as much a necessity in shelters as mattresses and water. The Venezuelan difference is the character: there, the children are assembling the puzzle of a dog that became a heroine. Tell us in the comments: have you ever donated toys in a disaster campaign, and what do you think of the idea of turning rescue dogs into a game?
Watch: the shelters of the earthquake in Venezuela in video
The situation of the evacuated families appears in an official video. On June 29, 2026, the UNICEF Latin America and Caribbean channel published the visit of its representative to La Guaira, showing the shelters with tents where the affected families live, the same scenario where the toys of Veronica and Joel are being distributed, according to the VietnamPlus report.
