Venezuela quake survivors treated at makeshift hospital amid rising toll

Survivors of Venezuela’s twin earthquakes were being treated at a makeshift hospital set up on the grounds of a country club in northern Venezuela, where volunteers and rescue teams improvised care as the death toll kept climbing. The country was hit Wednesday evening, June 24, by magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes that were among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century.

Officials first put the toll at about 235 dead and at least 4,300 injured. Later figures raised the number of dead to 920, with more than 3,000 wounded, as hundreds of people remained missing and hospitals filled with patients.

The damage was heaviest in La Guaira, north of Caracas, where Venezuelan officials said more than 100 buildings collapsed and the interior minister said at least 70,000 families were affected. Venezuela’s main international airport was closed after quake damage, adding another layer of disruption in a region already struggling to move aid, personnel and equipment.

Residents described a rescue effort that was far smaller than the scale of destruction. In La Guaira, neighbors dug through rubble by hand and complained that heavy machinery and backhoes were scarce, while emergency teams tried to reach collapsed structures and stabilize the injured. The makeshift hospital on the country club site became one of the clearest symbols of how little formal medical capacity remained once the shaking stopped.

The tremors were felt far beyond Venezuela, including parts of Colombia and Brazil, and prompted an international response. The United States said it was deploying search-and-rescue teams from Fairfax County, Virginia, and Los Angeles, along with medical resources. Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador, Cuba and Qatar also offered assistance.

Washington also moved to ease the flow of aid. The U.S. Treasury temporarily waived some sanctions through Oct. 23 for earthquake-relief-related transactions in Venezuela, a step meant to allow humanitarian work to proceed despite broader restrictions.

The scale of the disaster has revived memories of the 1967 Caracas earthquake, which killed roughly 225 to 300 people and injured more than 1,500. This week’s destruction has again exposed how quickly a major quake can overwhelm Venezuela’s hospitals, airports and emergency services, forcing communities to rely on improvised care while official response efforts lag behind the devastation.