Venezuela’s interim government revealed on Friday (July 17) that the death toll from the two strong earthquakes in the country last month has surpassed 5,000. As rescue workers continue to clear debris, the number of casualties is still rising.
According to a report by NBC News on Saturday (July 18), data released by Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez’s administration showed that as of Friday night, the death toll from the two earthquakes had risen to 5,069, with the number of injured remaining at 16,740, unchanged from the past 11 days.
According to statistics from the Venezuelan government, since the earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 on June 24, there have been 1,331 aftershocks, resulting in 856 buildings being damaged, including 190 completely collapsing, with hundreds of other infrastructures such as bridges and roads also affected.
The most severely affected region is La Guaira state, which is close to the Caribbean Sea.
Furthermore, an official report released by the President of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Jorge Rodriguez, revealed that after the disaster, a total of 6,462 people were rescued, and 128,000 families received assistance.
The government has set up 107 temporary shelters accommodating over 21,000 displaced people, with 17,907 individuals losing their homes.
The report also stated that over 10 million food rations and more than 32 million liters of drinking water have been distributed in the rescue operations. Currently, there are 2,278 international rescuers, nearly 31,000 deployed personnel, and over 31,000 volunteers involved in the emergency efforts. Search and rescue, disaster relief, and reconstruction work are still ongoing.
Rodriguez posted on the social media platform X that Venezuela has utilized its own reserves at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to withdraw $346 million for recovery and reconstruction efforts post-earthquakes.
She mentioned that these funds will be directed towards housing for affected families, infrastructure, and basic public services.
She also expressed gratitude for the support from the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva.
Georgieva later confirmed in a post on X that the institution is assisting the country in utilizing reserve allocations to meet emergency humanitarian needs. The related funds have been disbursed, and she mentioned that the IMF stands in solidarity with the people of Venezuela.