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Two Strong Earthquakes Kill Over 1,700 in Venezuela, Overwhelm Hospitals and Infrastructure
Two magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24, killing more than 1,700 people and injuring over 5,000. Rescue teams pulled survivors from rubble six days later while hospitals reached 900 percent capacity.
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Two earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck Venezuela within 39 seconds of each other on June 24, killing more than 1,700 people and injuring over 5,000, Newsweek reported. The official death toll has passed 1,700 while an unofficial count places more than 46,000 people unaccounted for.
Jordanian rescue teams pulled a 3-year-old boy from a collapsed building in northern Venezuela in the early hours of Tuesday morning, six days after the quakes, Newsweek reported.
A newborn was also rescued from the rubble. Hopes of finding additional survivors have faded as operations continue. The United Nations is procuring 10,000 body bags in agreement with Venezuelan authorities, Newsweek reported.
Bodies have been laid out in body bags at the seaport in La Guaira. NASA estimates 59,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged. Hospitals in northern Venezuela have reached 900 percent capacity, said Rafael Velasquez Garcia of the International Rescue Committee.
One hospital in Caracas and one in La Guaira have collapsed, and all health facilities in La Guaira have been severely impacted with no available beds. Up to 38 health facilities overall have been damaged or destroyed. Power outages, smashed water networks, dead phone lines and debris-blocked roads affect La Guaira, Newsweek reported.
Nearly 60 percent of assessed health facilities lack power or clean water. Local doctors operate from football fields using only first-aid kits. The International Rescue Committee is deploying mobile health units in northern Venezuela.
Around 40 percent of survivors in Caracas, La Guaira and three other regions are sheltering on streets or in public places such as schools and churches. Over 12,000 people were displaced. Even before the earthquakes, one in four Venezuelans needed humanitarian aid, U.N.
Experts said. In Yaracuy state 99 percent of the population lived below the poverty line in 2021, and in La Guaira the figure was 94 percent. Nearly 8 million Venezuelans left the country in the past 10 years.
