In Venezuela, UN and Partners Scale Up Support After Devastating Earthquakes

UN teams are supporting emergency health care, shelter, food assistance, water and sanitation, logistics, protection and the distribution of incoming supplies.

• UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator Gianluca Rampolla del Tindaro is coordinating the UN Country Team’s support to the Government-led earthquake response.
• The response draws on coordination mechanisms in place since 2019 to help align international support with urgent needs.
• Beyond the immediate emergency, the UN’s coordination role helps keep focus on essential services, recovery and longer-term resilience.

The UN and partners are scaling up support to the Government of Venezuela following two powerful back-to-back earthquakes that struck the country last week (June 24), leaving widespread destruction and urgent needs in their wake.

Briefing journalists, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Venezuela Gianluca Rampolla del Tindaro said that response teams continue to operate in a high-risk environment, with more than 500 aftershocks recorded since the initial earthquakes, including one measuring 5.2 early this morning (June 29).

The situation remains precarious. Heavy rains are expected in the coming hours, raising further concerns for people who have been displaced and are in urgent need of safe shelter.

According to official figures provided by the Government, 1,450 people have lost their lives, more than 3,000 have been injured and over 12,000 have been displaced. The numbers are expected to rise as search and rescue operations continue, and assessments of the damage expand.

Seven states have been affected, with La Guaira and the Capital District of Caracas among the hardest hit. RC/HC Rampolla said at least 2,500 structures had been destroyed, many of them fully collapsed.

A Government-led response, with international support

The Government is leading a large-scale response, with support from the UN and humanitarian partners. At this stage, priorities include search and rescue, emergency medical care, shelter, food assistance, water and sanitation, logistics and protection.

The UN is also supporting the storage and distribution of incoming supplies, working through coordination mechanisms that have been in place in Venezuela since 2019.

“We have an architecture that has been operating since 2019,” RC/HC Rampolla said. “Within this architecture and through these mechanisms, we will work with the Government to ensure the best available use and maximum impact of the resources that the world is, and will hopefully keep, providing to respond to this emergency.”

Global solidarity mobilised

International support has been rapid. Twenty-seven countries have mobilised more than 40 urban search and rescue teams, bringing more than 2,000 rescue personnel and over 160 search dogs to the country. The teams are operating within the framework of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group, which coordinates international urban search and rescue assistance.

RC/HC Rampolla also highlighted the financial support already announced by partners, including the United States, the European Union and other countries, as well as the reallocation of UN resources to support the immediate response.

The UN is preparing an addendum to the existing Humanitarian Response Plan to address the emerging emergency needs.

RC/HC Rampolla said the UN and partners are working closely with national authorities to ensure that assistance reaches those most in need, while continuing to support life-saving search and rescue efforts.

Having visited the most affected areas twice since the disaster, he described scenes of profound loss but also remarkable resilience.

“I have had the chance already to be twice, for full days, in the most affected areas. The show of solidarity, as often happens in these cases, but also the heroism of the people and the solidarity, is outstanding,” he said. “The international solidarity also is heartwarming. At a time in which we just heard, in the updates, of possible conflicts around the world, the world has come together very rapidly to provide assistance.”

As difficult days lie ahead, the UN in Venezuela remains focused on supporting the Government-led response and ensuring that international solidarity translates into timely, coordinated and effective assistance for affected communities.

Please visit the UN team's website for more information about the UN's work in Venezuela.