Brooklyn Park restaurant owner from Venezuela describes moments after hearing of deadly earthquakes

Back-to-back earthquakes rattled Venezuela Wednesday evening, killing nearly 190 people.

The 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude shakes were the strongest the country had seen in more than a century, damaging roads and crumbling buildings. 

People across the world are offering to help with recovery efforts. In Minnesota, the impact of the earthquakes is felt in other ways. Nearly 3,000 people in the state are of Venezuelan descent. 

"It's hard. Just to think about what people are going through down there," said Leo Castellano. 

Castellano is the owner of Arepas on the Go in Brooklyn Park. He and his employees serve authentic Venezuelan food as a tribute to the country they came from.

"A lot of people are going to be homeless so it's going to be hard for the country right now," said Castellano. 

Castellano came to the U.S. from Venezuela when he was 12 and eventually made his way to Minnesota. His dream was to open up his own restaurant, which he did a year and a half ago. As soon as he heard about the earthquakes, the first thing he did was call his dad. 

"He told me he felt it. He felt the bed shaking, the house moving, and we have relatives. We were calling people making sure they were okay. But yeah, my family felt it. It was bad," said Castellano. 

Luckily, his family members are okay. Castellano is now looking at ways he and others can help with the recovery. And he's happy to hear Venezuela isn't alone. 

"A lot of people are helping the country. The United States. We are very thankful for everything. Everybody around the world is helping," said Castellano. 

In addition to those who were killed, early reports said nearly one thousand people were injured in the earthquakes, and thousands are still missing.

"They have a lot of collapsed buildings so they will need a lot of help in terms of digging through that," said Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rubio said the U.S. has deployed search and rescue teams, medical resources and humanitarian aid to Venezuela. Over the next 48 to 72 hours, rescue efforts will be the main priority as teams look for people still buried under rubble.