Caracas, July 4 -- A week after devastating earthquakes struck Venezuela, as hopes of finding survivors fade, Vietnamese rescuers continue racing against time in the ruins of a collapsed five-storey apartment building in Playa Grande, La Guaira state.

While reporting from the disaster site, Venezuela's national broadcaster lingered on a poignant scene: Maria Elena, a Venezuelan mother with tear-swollen eyes hollowed by days of grief, clinging tightly to the hand of Maj. Gen. Pham Van Ty, Deputy Director of the Rescue and Salvage Department under the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) and head of the mission.

She spoke no Vietnamese. He spoke little Spanish. Yet the tears streaming down the face of a mother who had lost her...