Venezuela Earthquakes 2026

Direct Relief has delivered or has en route 206 pallets of medical aid — $31.2 million in value — to health partners in Venezuela, and disbursed $550,000 in emergency grants to seven Venezuelan organizations, following the June 24 earthquakes that killed at least 6,509 people in the country’s north-central states.

In Brief

6,509 people killed, 226,696 treated in hospitals and 6,462 rescued alive across eight states (Government of Venezuela official figures, Aug. 24)

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24,477 people living in 106 transitional camps across Caracas, La Guaira, Miranda and Aragua (Pan American Health Organization, Sept. 18)

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Of 356 health facilities assessed in La Guaira and Miranda, 216 operational; 23 knocked out by the earthquakes and 117 already out of service before them (PAHO, Sept. 18)

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Direct Relief has delivered or has en route 206 pallets of medical aid and disbursed $550,000 in emergency grants to seven Venezuelan organizations (as of Sept. 23)

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100% of your donation will be dedicated exclusively to Venezuela earthquake response efforts.

Supporting Medical Care in Venezuela’s Earthquake-Affected States

On June 24, two earthquakes, magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, struck near Yumare, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of Caracas. The U.S. Geological Survey issued a red alert, its highest level. About 2.8 million people felt very strong to violent shaking and about 10.5 million felt strong shaking or greater, across eight states with 14 million residents.

Steep terrain in coastal La Guaira and dense, older construction in Caracas drove widespread building collapse. That determined the medical picture: crush injuries, fractures, amputations, head and spinal trauma, and the acute kidney injury that follows crush syndrome — which is why kidney-care medicines are part of Direct Relief’s shipments.

Three months on, the medical picture has changed. The rescue phase closed after 6,462 people were pulled alive from the rubble, and the work is now debris clearance: 792,000 tonnes removed, 37% of an estimated 2.1 million, according to Venezuela’s Ministry of Public Works (Sept. 22). 24,477 people live in 106 transitional camps running at 87% occupancy. Mosquito breeding continues in the camps, and two suspected measles cases and one suspected diphtheria case await laboratory confirmation.

The health system in the affected states was thin before the earthquakes and is thinner now. Of 356 facilities PAHO assessed in La Guaira and Miranda, 216 are operational; the earthquakes knocked out 23, and 117 were already out of service before June 24. An infection prevention and control review of four Caracas hospitals rated three basic and one intermediate.

Direct Relief’s Emergency Response in Venezuela

Direct Relief is supporting locally led medical response in Venezuela through two channels: medical aid shipments to health and humanitarian partners, and emergency grants that let partners cover what a shipment cannot.

• Medical aid. Nine shipments as of Sept. 23 carried 206 pallets — 46.7 tons, $31.2 million in value — delivered or en route. Seventy-two pallets of medicines, medical supplies, IV fluids, kidney-care medicines, nutritional products, medical-grade tents, protective equipment and hygiene kits are for Fundación Wayuu Taya in Caracas and Maracaibo. Sixty-nine are for PAHO Venezuela in Caracas, including medicines, medical supplies, hygiene kits and emergency medical backpacks. Sixty-five are for Cruz Roja Venezolana and Acción Solidaria in Caracas.
• Emergency funding. $550,000 to seven organizations: GREMCA, Bomberos Unidos Sin Fronteras and Medical IMPACT for search and rescue; AVESSOC for mobile health care, including primary, pediatric and gynecological care and mental health support; the Venezuelan American Medical Association (VAMA) for prosthetics, orthotics and rehabilitation; and Acción Solidaria and Fundación Wayuu Taya for warehousing and logistics.
• Local response support. Direct Relief supported health care in Venezuela for years before the earthquakes, including through Acción Solidaria and Fundación Wayuu Taya. Those relationships let Direct Relief ship to needs identified on the ground, through organizations already positioned to reach affected communities. On Aug. 31, Direct Relief COO Craig Redmond visited a temporary shelter camp and community distribution center in La Guaira with Fundación Wayuu Taya to hear directly from residents about their needs.

Direct Relief ships against requests from healthcare organizations that have assessed what they need. Priority health needs for the Venezuela response center on six categories:

• Emergency medical packs, protective equipment and water purification
• Trauma and surgical supplies — sutures, splints and orthopedic equipment
• Wound care and IV fluids — dressings and fluids for infected wounds and dehydration
• Antibiotics and tetanus prophylaxis
• Chronic-disease medicines for heart disease, diabetes and dialysis patients
• Rehabilitation supplies and prosthetics

Navigating Venezuela’s Access and Disaster Logistics

Aid reaches the affected states through three routes. Maiquetía, the international airport serving Caracas, remains restricted to relief flights. Valencia airport and an overland corridor from Bogotá, Colombia, carry the rest.

Access shapes what help is useful. When a handful of relief flights and one overland corridor carry everything, every item has to earn its place — which is why Direct Relief ships against verified requests from qualified healthcare organizations rather than sending what happens to be available.

Water Systems Are Next

Damaged water infrastructure is the link between displacement and disease. UNICEF begins rehabilitating the Mamo pumping station and the Naiguatá plant in October, serving up to 250,000 people, with $25.7 million allocated against a $40 million gap. Until that work finishes, safe water, sanitation and infection prevention stay on the request list alongside medicines.

A Health System Already Stretched

Before the earthquakes, about half of Venezuela’s operating rooms were out of service and most hospitals lacked basic medicines and surgical supplies, according to the 2025 National Hospital Survey. Roughly a third of the country’s physicians have emigrated. Venezuela ranked 186th of 195 countries on the 2021 Global Health Security Index.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs counted 7.9 million people in severe humanitarian need in December 2025. The UN estimates the earthquakes pushed about 1.3 million more into need. A post-disaster needs assessment by the government, UNDP, the European Union and the World Bank puts recovery needs at $21 billion (Sept. 16).

Phases of Disaster and Health Response

The health consequences of an earthquake extend well beyond the first days.

• Immediate response. Search and rescue, trauma and crush-injury care, surgery, antibiotics, and supplies for emergency medical teams and first responders. Direct Relief funded three search-and-rescue organizations in the first days.
• Displacement and disease risk. This phase has begun. 24,477 people live in transitional camps where mosquitoes are breeding, and suspected measles and diphtheria cases await laboratory confirmation. Priorities shift to safe water, sanitation, vaccination and infection prevention.
• Continuity of care. People still need heart, diabetes and dialysis medicines. Ischemic heart disease and type 2 diabetes rank first and third among Venezuela’s causes of death and disability. A disrupted supply chain shows up in those numbers before it shows up in a headline.
• Recovery. Rehabilitation, prosthetics, mental health services and restored access to primary care — priorities identified by Venezuelan health organizations, not assumed from outside.

Direct Relief’s response will evolve with those needs. The objective is not simply to replace what was damaged, but to help local providers maintain and restore their ability to care for patients.

Direct Relief has also responded to the medical needs of major earthquakes worldwide, including the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake, the 2015 Nepal earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Support Venezuela Earthquake Response

Direct Relief is fulfilling requests as they come in, and the requests are shifting from trauma care toward rehabilitation, chronic-disease treatment and mental health support. Donations allow Direct Relief to respond as new requests emerge — through the months of medical care and recovery that follow an earthquake. More than 11,000 individuals in 82 countries, along with corporate, healthcare and foundation partners, have funded the response as of September.