Israel is preparing to send an aid delegation to Venezuela after Thursday’s earthquakes, while the Venezuelan government, foreign states, and a web of aid organizations moved quickly to manage the disaster from above. The immediate response was framed as humanitarian, but the machinery on display was the familiar one: ministries, NGOs, diplomatic channels, and state-backed institutions deciding who gets help, how fast, and through which gatekeepers.
The State Machine Moves First
The Foreign Ministry said it is conducting “a situation assessment with the relevant authorities in Israel and is examining the options for assistance.” The Health Ministry is also preparing to send a medical aid delegation to Venezuela, including medical, logistics, and emergency response teams that will join the effort, pending coordination with and approval from the Foreign Ministry. In other words, even disaster relief has to clear the same bureaucratic choke points as everything else.
The earthquakes struck about 160 kilometers west of Caracas on Thursday, first at magnitude 7.2 and then, less than a minute later, at magnitude 7.5, according to the US Geological Survey. Using predictive modeling, the USGS said the death toll would most likely run into the thousands, with a substantial probability of exceeding 10,000. That is the scale of the damage ordinary people are left to absorb while governments and institutions announce readiness.
Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, or KKL-JNF, said it is preparing aid totaling hundreds of thousands of shekels for Venezuela’s Jewish communities, including 500 families that were evacuated from their homes. KKL-JNF chairman Eyal Ostrinsky said he spoke with Roberto Mishkin, a senior leader of the Jewish community in Venezuela, and KKL-JNF Venezuela’s CEO, who updated him on the situation.
“KKL is committed to Jewish communities in the Diaspora, which are an inseparable part of us both in routine times and in emergencies. Just as we were there during Operation Roaring Lion system in Beit Shemesh, Beersheba, Dimona, and Arad with communities that suffered severe damage and extreme upheaval, so we will be there for our brothers in Venezuela in their time of need,” Ostrinsky said.
Miguel Trozman, one of the heads of the Confederation of Jewish Associations of Venezuela, said there are no reported casualties within the Jewish community in Caracas so far. “Many members of the Jewish community chose to go through this difficult night together and are now sleeping in the Jewish community center in the city,” he said.
The NGO Mirage
Four member organizations of the Society for International Development, SID Israel, have begun activating their response teams. IsraAID, described as Israel’s largest non-governmental humanitarian aid agency, said it is deploying an emergency response team to Venezuela. Its initial team will include emergency response specialists and humanitarian experts from its ongoing mission in Colombia and its global Emergency Response Team.
The NGO said its staff will focus on “mental health and psychological first aid, water, sanitation and hygiene, and rapid needs assessment in affected communities.” The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee said it is coordinating with local Jewish communities to provide food, clean water, medicine, and emergency shelters, while also preparing for Caracas International Airport to reopen so it can deploy its own emergency response team. SmartAID said it is working with Venezuelan partners to assess urgent humanitarian needs and will deliver equipment and emergency relief supplies. Natan Worldwide Disaster Relief said it is sending medical and psychosocial support professionals to “conduct a rapid needs assessment and lay the groundwork for a broader humanitarian response in the days ahead.”
A director of Humanitarian Assistance at SID Israel said, “Humanitarian organizations don’t build emergency response capacity when disaster strikes – they build it over many years.” The same official said the ability to respond quickly depends on “long-term investment in preparedness, trusted partnerships, and sustained engagement with local communities.” Even in Venezuela, where Israel has no diplomatic relations, the official said Israeli humanitarian organizations can rely on “well-established professional networks, local partners, regional teams, and staff already operating nearby” to begin responding within hours.
That is the polished language of the aid industry: preparedness, partnerships, networks, and rapid assessments. What it means in practice is that relief moves through institutions with their own priorities, their own branding, and their own access to the disaster zone.
Who Speaks for Help
Outside the NGO circuit, the state chorus was immediate. US President Donald Trump said the two earthquakes had “left a devastating number of deaths,” without citing any official casualty figures. “The two major earthquakes that just hit the great people of Venezuela are both massive in scale and have left a devastating number of deaths,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “The USA stands ready, willing, and able to help! I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly. We will be there for our new and great friends. Early reports are not good.”
China’s Foreign Ministry said China would do what it could to assist Venezuela. No Chinese casualties or injuries had been reported so far, according to the authorities. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez offered support to Venezuela, and Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Spain was ready to supply any emergency aid required. “Spain and myself offer our full support to the Venezuelan people following tonight’s devastating earthquakes,” Sanchez posted on X/Twitter. “Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also declared support for the Venezuelan government’s recovery efforts and directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Brazilian Embassy in Caracas to assess how Brazil could help. “I reaffirm our determination to support the government of Acting President Delcy Rodríguez in the recovery of affected areas of this sister nation, whose people have given proof of great resilience in the face of adversities,” he posted on Thursday morning.
The people in the middle of all this are the ones sleeping in community centers, waiting for airports to reopen, and hoping the next official announcement translates into food, water, medicine, or shelter before the aftershocks and the paperwork catch up.