1,943 dead: the still-preliminary official death toll from the two successive devastating earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24 continues to rise, as survivors face acute shortages of food and shelter and may soon be confronted with epidemics, as the UN warned yesterday, Tuesday. The previous official death toll stood at 1,719.

The earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, the strongest to hit the Latin American country in over a century, also left some 10,500 people injured, Parliament Speaker Jorge Rodríguez reported yesterday.

According to him, some 30,000 people were in the area around the port of La Guaira, which suffered the most extensive damage, when the double earthquake struck.

Since then, 6,461 people have been rescued, according to Mr. Rodríguez, but tens of thousands more—50,000, according to United Nations estimates—remain missing.

A three-year-old boy was rescued alive early Tuesday morning after remaining trapped under the rubble for nearly six days in Venezuela, where search operations are ongoing following the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck last Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/Yh3R4SqbHD

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— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 30, 2026

Miraculous Rescue of a Child

And although the theoretical—and grim—72-hour window during which people are typically rescued after catastrophic earthquakes closed on Saturday, there are still, albeit slim, chances of locating survivors in the rubble, experts note.

A team of Jordanian rescuers pulled a three-year-old child from the rubble in Caracas yesterday, offering a glimmer of hope amid an increasingly bleak picture.

In many earthquake-stricken areas, buildings have been reduced to rubble: based on satellite imagery, the U.S. space agency, NASA, estimated that some 58,870 buildings were damaged or destroyed, while vital infrastructure also suffered severe damage.

In the state of La Guaira (in the north), which suffered the most severe damage, “food shortages are widespread, basic services have collapsed, and communications are largely cut off,” noted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“Tensions among the population are rising, as access to aid remains limited,” it added.

In Waira, Daniela Armas, an 18-year-old saleswoman who was injured during the earthquakes, described a situation reminiscent of disaster movies: “Aid is being distributed here (…) but sometimes people are killed just to get food (…) People are fighting, as if we were in a cockfight.”

Against this dramatic backdrop, the World Food Program (WFP) appealed yesterday for an initial $50 million, so that it can distribute food to approximately 500,000 people over the next three months.

“The earthquakes have affected many families, some of whom were already struggling to obtain basic food supplies. Now, with their livelihoods destroyed and infrastructure severely damaged, many are at risk of sinking even deeper into insecurity,” explained Stephanie Hochsetter, the director of the agency’s office in Venezuela.

According to the UN, by early 2026, 7.9 million people in the Latin American country were already in need of humanitarian aid.

Thousands feared dead after devastating earthquakes in Venezuela…

The death toll has climbed to 1,943 and is still rising:

Over 10,500 injured
, 40,000–50,000 missing, nearly 59,000 buildings damaged or destroyed

. A full-scale humanitarian nightmare is unfolding as rescuers…

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 1, 2026

Make-shift morgue

The World Health Organization (WHO) has also expressed concern about the risk of epidemics spreading, as the systems for tracking the missing and the victims are “inadequate.”

The multitude of problems in the health system and in water supply and sanitation networks, combined with forced population displacements, may contribute to the outbreak of “diseases that could be prevented by vaccination, such as measles, diphtheria, and whooping cough,” warned agency spokesperson Christian Lindmeier during a press conference in Geneva.

The UNHCR estimates that it needs approximately $15 million, primarily to provide temporary shelter for about 30,000 people for six months.

“More than 80% of La Guaira state is in crisis; the authorities need to take action. They must at least focus on basic services, such as electricity, drinking water, and sanitation,” said Pablo Alfonso, 64, who now lives in a tent.

In the meantime, survivors are getting by as best they can, like Selix Ruiz in Ciudad Piár (east), who sleeps in a pharmacy parking lot. “No one wants to go to a reception center” for earthquake victims, because if they go, “it’s like being on the street,” he said.

Others have rolled up their sleeves, such as Diorchailis Escalona, a 23-year-old doctor: “After two days, I started working as a volunteer,” she explained. “Emotionally, it breaks my heart to see so many lives lost because of the earthquake, but we’re trying to help.”

The U.S. government announced that it is doubling the amount of aid it will provide to Venezuela to a total of $300 million, to be distributed among NGOs and UN agencies.

In January, the U.S. military launched a bloody attack on Caracas and kidnapped the then-socialist president, Nicolás Maduro, who now faces criminal charges for alleged drug trafficking. Since then, Washington and Caracas have restored their relations, and President Donald Trump’s administration supports acting President Delcy Rodríguez, while taking control of sectors related to the extraction of raw materials, minerals, and hydrocarbons in the country with the largest proven oil reserves on the planet.

A makeshift morgue has been set up on the waterfront at the port of Guaira. From the very first days, the wounded and the dead have been continuously transported to hospitals. The infrastructure has reached its limit.

“They told me that my sister and her children are here, as are my brother’s children,” said Wilker Molaya, 25, while waiting in line to identify victims. “Eleven of us lived in our house; only two of us survived because we were at work.”

According to the WHO, citing the acting president, 38 hospitals were damaged, three of which are in dire condition.

The international community has mobilized in the wake of the tragedy. According to the UN coordinator in Venezuela, Gianluca Rambola Del Tindaro, 27 countries have sent more than 40 rescue teams; “more than 2,000 rescuers and other personnel are on the ground, along with more than 160 dogs” trained to locate trapped victims.

Source: Protothema.gr