Christian relief organisation Operation Blessing is deploying its Global Disaster Response team to Venezuela after two powerful earthquakes struck the country on Wednesday. The death toll has risen to 188 people, while thousands more are feared dead.
The back-to-back quakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude, struck less than a minute apart and sent severe tremors through Caracas and surrounding regions, according to Reuters.
The 7.5-magnitude tremor was the strongest to hit Venezuela since 1900. The first quake struck about 160km west of Caracas. At least 1 520 people were injured and at least 250 buildings were damaged or destroyed.
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The US Geological Survey projected the death toll would most likely reach into the thousands, with a substantial probability of exceeding 10 000.
Operation Blessing said in a statement to The Christian Post that its response team will be led by Senior Director Diego Traverso and includes a medical doctor, chef, clean water specialist and logistics experts.
Drew Friedrich, the organization’s president, said families were facing “unimaginable loss and uncertainty.”
In 2019, Traverso led Operation Blessing’s response to Venezuelan refugees crossing into Colombia, an effort that lasted 108 days and helped an estimated 22 000 people.
The worst-affected area was La Guaira state, near Caracas, which interim President Delcy Rodriguez called “a disaster zone.” She said her government was working with businesses to deploy heavy machinery to speed up rescue efforts.
Caracas’ main airport in La Guaira was closed after suffering damage.
Rescue workers were scarce in the coastal capital of La Guaira, where volunteers dug through rubble with their bare hands. Three children were among at least eight people killed in Moron, a town near the epicenter in Carabobo state.
Other towns near Caracas, including El Junquito, remained without power. Looting was reported at two stores in La Guaira.
A website set up to track missing people, shared by leaders from Venezuela’s opposition, listed more than 35 000 people as unaccounted for as of Thursday afternoon.
La Guaira resident Yamileth Jimenez was quoted as saying her 19-year-old son was believed trapped in the rubble of their seven-story apartment building.
Pedro Perez, 64, the owner of an upholstery workshop in La Guaira, was quoted as saying he lost both his home and his business and had been forced onto the streets with his wife and children.
US President Donald Trump said the US was “ready, willing and able to help” and pledged to “be there for our new and great friends.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said rescue teams were being deployed and that the Pentagon would send assets to the damaged Caracas airport.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said the organization was coordinating the rapid deployment of international rescue teams and warned that a massive collective effort would be needed. Before the earthquakes, 8 million people in Venezuela already required humanitarian aid.
The UN’s Venezuela human rights mission urged the government to lift restrictions on some social media, calling it a “matter of life and death.”
Rodriguez called for unity in the country, where anti-government protests over annual inflation of more than 500% have grown more frequent since Trump ordered the capture of President Nicolas Maduro in January. She thanked Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin and said international rescue teams were expected soon.
Expatriate groups representing Venezuela’s diaspora began organizing aid collections abroad.
The disaster compounded years of economic turmoil that had left much of Venezuela’s infrastructure fragile before the quakes struck.
Venezuela sits on the boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates and has endured major earthquakes, including one in 1812 that killed an estimated 30 000 people.
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