For Elianta Quintero, the world ended and began again in the span of a few seconds. One moment, she was immersed in the music and energy of a night out; the next, she was pinned beneath a mountain of concrete and darkness. Now, a year after the roof of the Jet Set nightclub in the Dominican Republic collapsed, the journalist is speaking openly about the invisible scars that remain long after the physical wounds have closed.
The experience, which Quintero describes as an unprecedented tragedy that shook the nation, has left her navigating a complex landscape of physical rehabilitation and profound psychological trauma. In a candid reflection on her survival, Elianta Quintero habla de la tragedia del Jet Set not as a distant memory, but as a defining rupture in her identity.
The collapse occurred with a suddenness that Quintero likens to a film reel snapping. The transition from the vibrancy of the venue to the suffocating silence of the rubble was instantaneous. Trapped in total darkness with dwindling oxygen, she recalls the terror of feeling footsteps above her, oblivious to the lives clinging to existence just inches below the surface.
“When I was under those ruins, totally in the dark, with very little oxygen, there was a moment when they started stepping on us,” Quintero recalls. “I screamed that we were under the debris, and someone heard us and said, ‘Don’t go through there, We find people underneath.’”
In those moments of absolute desperation, Quintero found solace in faith, surrendering her fate to a higher power. For her, the moment the first piece of debris was lifted and light flooded back into her vision was more than a rescue; it was a rebirth.
The Architecture of Recovery
The physical toll of the accident was immediate and severe. Quintero suffered significant injuries to her legs and hips, leaving her bedridden for a month. Though, as the physical pain began to subside, a more insidious challenge emerged: the psychological need for absolute safety.
For weeks, her bedroom became her entire world—a sanctuary where the threat of collapse felt impossible. The transition back to the shared spaces of her own home, such as the living room, became a daunting hurdle. Even today, the simplest triggers—a sudden loud noise or a minor accident—can spark a visceral reaction, a remnant of the post-traumatic stress that often follows mass casualty events.
Reintegrating into her professional life as a journalist, particularly during night shifts, proved to be one of her most challenging battles. While she has returned to work, she admits that her relationship with the night has fundamentally changed. The nightlife that once felt routine now feels fraught with risk, leading her to avoid clubs and late-night outings almost entirely.
Navigating Survivor’s Guilt
Beyond the PTSD, Quintero is grappling with a phenomenon often overlooked in the wake of disasters: survivor’s guilt. This emotional burden arises when a person survives a traumatic event that claimed others, leading to a persistent sense of questioning why they were spared.
This internal conflict, often characterized by a tension between gratitude and grief, can be as debilitating as the initial trauma. According to resources on trauma and recovery from the American Psychological Association, this guilt is a common response to catastrophic events, requiring specialized therapeutic intervention to resolve.
“It’s something that no one talks about,” Quintero says. “As when you survive a catastrophe of this magnitude, your feelings are split between gratitude for being alive and mourning. It is an internal struggle where you ask yourself, ‘Why me and not another?’ I have to retain reminding myself that life is not a prize, nor is death a punishment.”
To manage this emotional weight, Quintero currently utilizes professional psychological and emotional support. She emphasizes that the process of healing is not about erasing the event, but about integrating it into her life story without letting the wound remain open.
The Path to Healing
For those who have survived similar structural collapses or mass traumas, the journey toward stability often involves several critical stages of recovery:
- Establishing Safety: Creating a controlled environment to reduce hypervigilance.
- Physical Rehabilitation: Addressing mobility issues to regain independence.
- Cognitive Processing: Working through the “why me” narrative of survivor’s guilt.
- Gradual Exposure: Slowly reintegrating into triggering environments under professional guidance.
Quintero believes that the only way forward is to transform the tragedy into a form of memory that serves as a catalyst for growth rather than a source of permanent pain. She views the scar not as a mark of victimhood, but as a testament to resilience.
“It is our responsibility not to look at it from the open wound, but to work to scar it,” she explains, “so that it serves as a memory of what once happened in your life and transformed it forever.”
As the community continues to reflect on the impact of the Jet Set collapse, the focus remains on the long-term mental health of the survivors. While official reports on structural safety and accountability continue to move through the appropriate channels, the personal recovery of survivors like Quintero provides a blueprint for others facing the long road back from catastrophe.
If you or a loved one are struggling with the aftermath of a traumatic event, please reach out to a licensed mental health professional or a crisis hotline in your region for support.
We invite readers to share their thoughts on the importance of mental health support for disaster survivors in the comments below.
