A week after a devastating double earthquake with a magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 shook the northern coast of Venezuela on June 24, the humanitarian crisis in the country continues to deepen. As of 4:30 a.m. Bulgarian time on July 3, 2026, the official death toll reached 2295 people, and the injured are at least 11,267, confirmed Venezuelan authorities and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Scale of the disaster and damage
The natural disaster directly affected over 26,000 people, of whom 12,841 were seriously injured or internally displaced due to destroyed homes. The situation is worst in the coastal state La Guaira, which has been declared a disaster area.
Destroyed infrastructure: About 800 buildings in the country have been affected, with 189 of them completely collapsed. Healthcare collapse: According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), at least 38 hospitals have suffered material damage. The Vargas-IVSS hospital in La Guaira is overcrowded - 96 patients are accommodated in a ward with a capacity of 8 beds. The lack of electricity has disabled the ventilators, and medical waste is piling up in the corridors. Economic shock: UN assesses physical damage between 4.7 and 8.7 billion dollars (about 4-8% of the country's GDP).
Emergency measures and rescue operations
The Venezuelan government announced seven days of national mourning and extended the state of emergency. The Simón Bolívar National Airport in Caracas is temporarily closed to commercial flights due to damage, and rail transport in the affected areas has been suspended.
Although 6,461 people have been rescued since the beginning of the crisis, the focus of operations is now shifting from searching through the rubble to housing those left homeless. Sports complexes and stadiums, such as the “Jose Maria Vargas“, have been converted into makeshift shelters, where international organizations are setting up tents and providing water purification plants. In a bright spot, rescue teams pulled a man alive after spending eight days under the rubble in La Guaira.
With morgues overwhelmed and bodies unable to be quickly identified, authorities in La Guaira have begun using refrigerated meat containers to store remains. The government is offering free cremation, and health officials are urging people to avoid mass burials to prevent the spread of the disease.
International aid
More than 2,700 foreign rescue workers and specialists are working in the country. The World Health Organization (WHO) has provided $1.5 million in emergency funding and is coordinating the delivery of tens of tons of medical supplies. The United States has doubled its humanitarian aid package to the country to $300 million, and the European Union has activated its Civil Protection Mechanism and is organizing an airlift. The World Food Programme (WFP) has urgently appealed for $50 million to provide food for 500,000 people over the next three months.
Sources: AFP and BTA