The number of fatalities in the double earthquakes last Wednesday (June 24) has approached 1,500 people, as foreign rescue teams rushed to La Guaira, the hardest-hit state in the country that has long been in a deep political and economic crisis.
Tens of buildings collapsed into piles of sand and rubble in the coastal state, about 40 km north of Caracas.
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The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that more than 10,000 people could have died in the earthquakes of magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, which would rank them among the deadliest in Latin America in the last century.
The earthquakes exacerbated problems arising from years of economic and political struggles, especially for the overwhelmed healthcare system.
The economic situation of this South American nation is critical, following catastrophic fiscal management and the imposition of U.S. economic sanctions on the Central Bank of Venezuela and the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). Between 2013 and 2021, the country’s economy shrank by three-quarters.
Citizens of Venezuela have expressed frustration over the delays in the government’s response and the lack of heavy machinery for rescuing loved ones. Given the scale of the tragedy and the size of the external debt, Venezuela needs much more than the aid currently arriving to help the affected and rebuild its infrastructure.
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