Venezuela Earthquakes: Three Months into the Response

Three months after two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela, local health workers, first responders, and humanitarian organizations are continuing to care for affected communities as the response moves from immediate emergency relief toward longer-term recovery.

On June 24, two earthquakes, magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, struck north-central Venezuela near Yumare, about 100 miles west of Caracas. The earthquakes affected eight states and a population of 14 million people.

As of Sept. 17, the government reported 6,509 deaths and 226,696 people treated at medical facilities. More than 24,000 people remain sheltered across transitional camps.

The disaster placed extraordinary pressure on a health system that was already significantly under-resourced. Of 211 health facilities assessed following the earthquakes, 136 are operational. Of the 75 that are inoperative, 52 were already out of service before the disaster.

From Immediate Response to Recovery

In the first days after the earthquakes, Direct Relief provided emergency funding to organizations supporting the acute response, including GREMCA, Bomberos Unidos Sin Fronteras, Medical Impact, Acción Solidaria, AVESSOC, Fundación Wayuu Taya, and Venezuelan American Medical Association, helping strengthen search-and-rescue capacity and emergency medical response.

At the same time, medicines, medical supplies, and other resources began moving through healthcare and humanitarian organizations in Venezuela.

Direct Relief's response has been strengthened by relationships built over many years. For years, the organization has supported healthcare in Venezuela, including through Acción Solidaria and Fundación Wayuu Taya. When the earthquakes struck, those relationships helped Direct Relief respond to needs identified on the ground and work through organizations already positioned to reach affected communities.

Three months later, the needs are changing.

Healthcare providers are treating earthquake-related health needs while continuing to care for patients managing chronic conditions and other illnesses. Local organizations are bringing medicines and healthcare closer to communities where access has been disrupted. Mental health, rehabilitation, prosthetic care, and restoring access to primary healthcare are increasingly important as communities move into long term recovery.

Voices from the Response

Direct Relief works to support the many people carrying that work forward in Venezuela.

Among them is Col. Henry Contreras of the La Guaira State Fire Department, who reported for duty after the earthquakes despite being off that day and spent the following hours helping rescue people from collapsed buildings. Even firefighters who had already retired returned to help.

"The sense of duty hasn't faded since day one," Contreras said. "A firefighter's spirit never dies."

Sohely Subero, Directora General of AVESSOC, described an emergency that looks very different three months later. Her organization is helping provide primary care, pediatric and gynecological services, and mental health and psychosocial support in affected communities.

"What you saw in the first week is not even remotely what you're seeing three months later," Subero said.

At the Venezuelan Red Cross Hospital, María Teresa Párima Pérez brings a much longer perspective. She has spent 70 years serving with the Venezuelan Red Cross and has lived through previous disasters, including the 1967 earthquake.

For Párima, the support received following this disaster has helped health workers continue providing the care their patients need.

"With your help, we've truly been able to get through this," she said. "We've cared for people the way every human being deserves to be cared for."

Their stories, along with those of Direct Relief partners Acción Solidaria and Fundación Wayuu Taya, are featured in the video above.

Three Months of Support

As of September, Direct Relief's Venezuela earthquake response has included 48 tons of medical aid valued at $31.2 million, along with $550,000 in grants to seven organizations supporting emergency response, healthcare, logistics, and recovery.

Over the coming months, Direct Relief will continue working with Venezuelan healthcare and humanitarian organizations to strengthen access to primary healthcare, maintain continuity of care for people with chronic conditions, expand mental health support, connect people with prosthetic and rehabilitation services, strengthen emergency preparedness, and continue delivering essential medicines, medical supplies, and equipment.

Three months after the earthquakes, the nature of the emergency has changed. The work of the people responding to it continues.

Direct Relief's work in Venezuela has been made possible by more than 11,000 individuals, along with the support of corporate and healthcare partners and foundations, from 82 countries worldwide.