Related videos:
The Venezuelan government raised the official number of deaths from the earthquakes that occurred on June 24 to 3,535 this Monday, according to a report released by Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, through his account on X.
The new figure represents an increase of 193 fatalities compared to the previous report issued hours earlier by the authorities themselves, which placed the toll at 3,342 deceased.
The official report also counts 16,740 injured individuals, 6,462 rescued alive, and 17,854 who lost their homes as a result of the earthquakes.
Material damage continues to rise. According to the report, 856 buildings were affected and 190 completely collapsed. Furthermore, since the main earthquake, 1,048 aftershocks have been recorded.
Response efforts are operating at a large scale. The government reported that 4,338 international rescuers, 29,567 personnel, and 27,930 volunteers are participating. Additionally, 9,603 tons of food and over eight million liters of water have been distributed among the affected population.
The two earthquakes, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, shook the Morón area in Carabobo state and the central Venezuelan coast with just 39 seconds apart. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), this is the worst seismic disaster recorded in the country in over a century.
Since the early hours following the disaster, the official number of victims has consistently increased. Authorities initially reported 32 deceased, a figure that later rose to 164, then to 920, 1,719, 2,295, 2,645, 2,954, 3,342, and now 3,535.
Despite this, international organizations believe that the final impact could be considerably greater. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that there is a 42% chance that the death toll will be between 10,000 and 100,000 people, while the United Nations has warned that tens of thousands of people remain missing.
This Monday, in addition, the United States concluded its search and rescue operations in Venezuela, marking the beginning of the transition to the recovery phase and assistance for the victims.
The UN estimates that around 6.76 million Venezuelans were affected by the earthquakes, including nearly two million residents of Caracas, making this tragedy one of the most severe natural disasters recorded in the recent history of South America.
Filed under: