Direct Relief is responding to earthquakes that rocked the country on June 24, causing significant fatalities and injuries. The organization is communicating with local and regional organizations about immediate medical needs.
Mobilizing Medical Aid for Venezuela
The earthquakes, 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude, toppled buildings, crushed civilians, and plunged communities into darkness. Venezuela has declared a state of emergency as search-and-rescue operations continue.
Numerous people have been killed, with more than a thousand reported injured. Rescue efforts are underway to reach survivors and connect them to medical care.
Direct Relief is coordinating with agencies at the regional and local level to support the response.
A Cataclysmic Disaster in a Fragile Region
The two earthquakes shook Venezuela’s densely populated northern states, including the city of Caracas. The quakes have toppled more than 100 buildings and trapped untold thousands of people below the mountains of rubble. Families awaiting search-and-rescue teams have begun digging through the rubble themselves.
Power outages were widespread in affected areas, compounding the crisis. Two major earthquakes in such close succession are rare and can compound the scale of impact.
Major earthquakes of 7.0-magnitude or higher cause severe impacts to regional health. Crush injuries and physical traumas are widespread during the event, aftershocks, and recovery period. Local health systems are often overwhelmed by the influx of injuries, and chronic conditions and other health issues can go unmanaged, quickly spiraling into health crises.
Displacement after an earthquake often causes exposure, waterborne illnesses, infectious diseases, and nutritional impacts, as people are crowded together in unsanitary conditions and separated from healthcare access and their regular food sources.
Earthquakes can cause a cascade of medical issues, including acute traumas and crush injuries from falling debris during the initial event, aftershocks, and during rescue and recovery efforts. Local health systems can be strained by an influx of trauma patients to emergency rooms, even as others can end up in medical crisis from unmanaged chronic conditions and other health needs neglected during the immediate crisis. Massive displacement can also cause health risks, including exposure, waterborne illnesses and more.
Direct Relief’s Response
Direct Relief has an extensive history of medical support in South America and the Caribbean to provide regional medical support during emergencies and support health systems throughout the region.
The organization has a long history of responding to the medical needs of earthquakes, including the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake, the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and many others.
Direct Relief maintains emergency medicines commonly requested during earthquake events, including wound care, surgical supplies, antibiotics, field medic packs to equip first responders and search and rescue crews, and more.
The organization will continue to respond to requests in the region as they become known.
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