Venezuela Earthquakes Kill 3,535 and Damage 60,000 Buildings

Two earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24, killing 3,535 people, injuring 16,740 and leaving 17,854 without housing. The quakes measured magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 and hit within seconds of each other in and around Caracas and La Guaira. An estimated 60,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

At least 12,800 people were staying in 80 shelters across the two regions as of Monday, lawmaker Jorge Rodriguez stated. In La Guaira that day, trucks and forensic workers transported coffins while machinery dug trenches in an open area marked by white crosses for burials. Health risks are increasing among displaced residents.

Eugenio Cova, head of the trauma unit at Hospital Jose Gregorio Hernandez in Caracas, said last week that infections among patients exposed to the disaster for the longest time are a growing concern. “We’ve already gone through a period of complex trauma, which will continue to occur, but now, it’s complicated by infections,” Cova said.

Al Jazeera correspondent Teresa Bo reported last week from a shelter site in La Guaira that there have been lots of reports among the population of diarrhoea and other diseases.

Displaced people are asking for portable toilets and government help to reorganise sites to prevent overcrowding and the spread of disease. Carolina Jimenez, president of the Washington Office on Latin America, told Al Jazeera last week that citizens, civil society, humanitarian workers and volunteers have led the response in places like Catia la Mar, north of Caracas.

“In a government in any other country, the first responder should be the state,” she said.