Earthquakes in Venezuela leave nearly 5,000 dead and more than 20,000 people in camps, according to an official report

Consequences of earthquakes in Venezuela (Reference image)Photo © Facebook/AZ Noticias

The Venezuelan regime raised the number of deaths from the earthquakes on June 24 to 4,829 this Wednesday, according to the official report released by Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly.

The information that the government presents as an updated assessment of the disaster also reports 16,740 injured, 6,462 people rescued alive, and 20,857 people housed in 106 temporary camps, while another 17,907 remain homeless and 128,324 families have received some form of assistance.

In terms of humanitarian response, the report indicates that 10,063 tons of food and over 24.2 million liters of water have been distributed, with 34,872 patients receiving medical care.

The report from this Wednesday also records 2,408 deployed international rescuers, 30,989 personnel, and 31,315 volunteers, in addition to 1,284 aftershocks accumulated since the original earthquakes.

Official figures stand in stark contrast to independent estimates. The United States Geological Survey issued a Red Alert and estimated, with a 42% probability, that the actual number of fatalities could be between 10,000 and 100,000 people.

The UN estimated up to 50,000 missing persons under the rubble, a situation that Tom Fletcher, the organization's humanitarian aid chief, described as "terrifyingly plausible" on June 27.

The citizen platform Encuéntralos had registered over 71,000 missing persons as of June 29, a figure that the official report neither acknowledges nor mentions.

The doublet seismic event originated at 6:04:33 PM local time; the main earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.5, occurred near Yumare in the state of Yaracuy, approximately 39 seconds later.

The devastation concentrated in La Guaira and Caracas: 158 of the 190 buildings with total collapse recorded across the country were located in that coastal area.

One of the most revealing pieces of information was reported by NASA when it detected, through its NISAR satellite, a displacement of up to 60 centimeters of the Earth's surface near Caracas International Airport.

Regarding the reconstruction, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated the material damages at approximately 6.7 billion dollars, equivalent to 6% of Venezuela's GDP, with a total impact that could reach between 10.05 and 20.1 billion.

Venezuela and the UN have launched a joint plan to import prefabricated homes for those affected, with an estimated financial gap of 627 million dollars.

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CiberCuba Editorial Team

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