HI Responds to Devastating Venezuela Earthquakes Amid Growing Medical Crisis

VENEZUELA — The evening of June 24th had only just begun in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, when two powerful earthquakes violently shook the ground. Two quakes with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 struck in quick succession, less than a minute apart, followed by more than thirty aftershocks.

The second earthquake was the strongest recorded in over a century. The epicenter, located less than 200 miles west of Caracas, was at a shallow depth, which amplified its impact.

The consequences are devastating. Preliminary figures already put the death toll at more than 500, with thousands more injured, but these figures are expected to rise as rescue teams search through the rubble in the devastated areas, particularly in the state of La Guaira and the Caracas metropolitan area. More than 56,000 people are reported missing.

HI is on the ground in earthquake-affected regions, providing food distribution and emergency rehabilitation.

Andreina Jota, HI’s Regional Program Development and Reporting Officer, and a member of the Rapid Needs Assessment team in La Guaira, shares:

“Social media often exaggerates the scale of disasters, but in the case of La Guaira, I think it’s impossible to grasp the full extent of the damage caused by the earthquake from photos or videos.

The lack of supplies and capacity to respond is devastating; healthcare staff are working with their bare hands and without equipment. They are performing amputations without an anesthetic because the anesthetic has run out.

Search-and-rescue operations have shown that the community can build networks of mutual support. Still, the resources available to them are insufficient to cope with the scale of the disaster.

During the short time the team spent at the hospital, we saw the lack of support and equipment available to people whose mobility had been affected. Many people will find themselves living with a disability following the disaster, not only because they have suffered amputations or serious fractures, but also because they cannot be treated effectively.

Some disabilities could be prevented through early intervention, but hospitals currently only have the resources to care for people in critical condition.”

Stand with Venezuela: https://donor.hi-us.org/page/venezuela-earthquake.

For more information about HI's work in Venezuela, check our Venezuela mission page.