Venezuela's twin earthquakes killed 3,811 people and left the socialist nation facing $37 billion in direct physical damage, according to figures released Wednesday by National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez. The June 24 quakes injured 16,740 and displaced roughly 18,000 people, exposing deep vulnerabilities in a country already weakened by two decades of economic mismanagement and international sanctions.
The government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez reported 190 buildings collapsed and 856 others damaged. United Nations relief chief Tom Fletcher said the U.N. launched an appeal for roughly $300 million to assist 1.3 million people in urgent need of aid. He noted the United States had so far provided most of the earthquake-response aid.
Health Crisis Deepens
Chronic illness and diarrhea surged in quake-hit Venezuelan communities as humanitarian needs deepened, AP reported. Doctors in Catia La Mar reported more skin conditions and diarrheal diseases, along with more requests for medication for chronic illnesses including diabetes and high blood pressure. The emerging diseases were tied to crowded living spaces and poor water and sanitation conditions, which in many communities predated the earthquakes.
Irma Echarri, 67, went to a mobile unit with boxes of eyedrops and pain reliever she usually takes, hoping for replacements and treatment for pain in her nose after the June 24 earthquakes. "It hurts a lot," she said. "It hurts because it hurts." Zulbey Reyes, 41, went to a clinic run by the Venezuela-based organization Paluz in partnership with the International Rescue Committee after the earthquakes robbed her of her job as a nanny. She sought treatment for chest pain. "I thought it was my heart that was sick," she said. "But it's a nerve that became inflamed after the screams that day."
Armando Denegri, representative in Venezuela of the Pan-American Health Organization, said "50% of the health professionals in La Guaira were directly affected" by the earthquakes. "Some disappeared, some died, others were severely affected by the crisis, impacting their families," he said, without giving further details.
Mobile kitchens, clinics and field hospitals have been set up in public spaces, and nongovernmental organizations are delivering much of the aid. Fletcher said two weeks after the disaster, "It is clear at displacement sites that, particularly after two weeks, that people are turning up because they haven't been able to get their other treatments. So, they're not turning up with just the fractures now, they're turning up with those longer-term health needs. And it's vital that we're there for them."
The widespread presence of nongovernmental organizations and the freedom with which the government is allowing them to operate contrasts with the repression they faced in recent years, when organizations were repeatedly accused of anti-government activities and the U.N. local human rights office was expelled.
U.S. Sanctions Relief and Debt Restructuring
The U.S. authorized for four months transactions related to earthquake relief that would otherwise have been banned by sanctions, Reuters reported. The temporary measure reflects Washington's humanitarian concerns while maintaining pressure on a regime it considers anti-democratic.
Delcy Rodríguez renewed calls for international sanctions on Venezuela to be lifted and said the country had enough overseas assets to help finance reconstruction if blocked accounts were released. "Venezuela has resources blocked around the world that could address this process of reconstruction," she said on state television channel VTV. She said funds were also needed for employment and education programs.
She said she had sent a letter to King Charles requesting the release of Venezuelan gold held at the Bank of England and had spoken with the head of the International Monetary Fund about releasing funds. The Bank of England has refused to release some 31 tons of Venezuelan gold held in its vaults, and the bullion has been the subject of a long-running legal battle in British courts.
The U.S., the European Union and other countries imposed increasingly stringent sanctions on Venezuela over the last two decades over allegations of anti-democratic activity and that the country is a haven for drug trafficking. Many of the measures remain in place, though after the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro early this year, Washington provided targeted relief to the country's oil sector.
Venezuela is pushing a swift debt deal after the quakes, with claims approaching $200 billion and fears of a future crisis, Reuters reported. The country is pursuing a rapid and complex debt restructuring, and the push has raised concerns about future financial stability.
Why This Matters:
Venezuela's earthquake crisis exposes the consequences of decades of socialist economic policies that left critical infrastructure vulnerable and the nation unable to respond effectively to natural disasters. The $37 billion in direct physical damage represents a staggering burden for a country already crushed by debt approaching $200 billion. The government's immediate pivot to demanding sanctions relief and access to frozen assets reveals a fundamental truth: Venezuela's reconstruction depends not on its own fiscal capacity but on external resources it seeks without addressing the governance failures that led to asset freezes in the first place. The U.S. providing most earthquake aid while maintaining sanctions demonstrates how market-based democracies respond to humanitarian need even when holding authoritarian regimes accountable. The debt restructuring push raises serious questions about whether international creditors will reward a government that hasn't reformed the policies that created economic collapse, potentially setting a dangerous precedent for fiscal irresponsibility.