The death toll from the Venezuelan earthquake rises, and hospitals face collapse

Doctors said Wednesday they fear the effects of two devastating earthquakes in Venezuela will lead to a widening medical crisis marked by untreated injuries, infectious diseases and a health care system already on the brink.

Thousands of displaced Venezuelans are sleeping in crowded shelters or outside without access to clean water amid dire sanitary conditions in the wake of the June 24 earthquakes that officials say killed at least 2,295 people and injured more than 11,000 others.

Aid workers said the effects of the earthquakes had become a major medical crisis and, unless controlled quickly, would claim more lives in the coming days and weeks. The state of emergency exposed the chronic shortage of doctors in Venezuela, the result of years of economic crisis, lack of funding and migration.

“The problem we see around the corner is infections that may be brought by patients who have been exposed to the disaster for a longer period,” said Eugenio Cova, head of the trauma unit at Hospital del Oeste Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernandez in the capital, Caracas. “We have already gone through a period of complex shocks – which will continue to occur – but now it is complicated by infections.”

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Aid workers also warn that extensive damage to infrastructure could lead to disease outbreaks in the most affected communities.

“The weather is very hot and there is a lot of concern about potential vector-borne diseases,” said Véronique Duro, spokeswoman for the UN humanitarian agency in Latin America and the Caribbean. “Waste management is a problem. Debris management, when you see the amount of destruction, it’s very worrying.”

The US Army deploys 900 soldiers to aid Venezuela

The United States currently has 900 military personnel on the ground to support relief and rescue operations as of Wednesday, Stephen McCloud, a spokesman for U.S. Southern Command, told The Associated Press.

The military repaired a quake-damaged runway at the country’s main international airport serving Caracas to allow the arrival of humanitarian aid and naval assets stationed off the coast to receive airlifted survivors. McCloud said an additional 100 people have been sent from the US State Department to assist in these efforts.

So far, the Trump administration has offered Venezuela $300 million in aid channeled through aid groups and the United Nations. But that’s just a fraction of the aid the country needs after the quake: Physical damage from the quakes is estimated at more than $6.7 billion, according to a satellite analysis by the United Nations Development Programme.

Fifty more international teams have arrived in recent days to assist in search and rescue operations, including from countries such as Ecuador and Israel that have no diplomatic relations with Venezuela. Despite the odds, rescuers continue to find a small number of survivors, including on Tuesday, a young boy who had been trapped for six days.

The crisis-hit hospitals dealt another blow

Long before the earthquakes, Venezuela’s public hospitals were severely stressed due to lack of water, power, vital medical equipment and highly trained staff.

More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2013, when Nicolas Maduro took office and the economy has deteriorated as a result of mismanagement, corruption and low oil prices.

Among those who traveled were many specialized doctors and nurses.

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The Venezuelan Medical Association has estimated that about a third of its 60,000 registered doctors have left the country since the start of the economic crisis. The remaining number is roughly half the 84,000 the country needs based on World Health Organization standards, said Dr. Hunyades Urbina, a board member of the Pediatric Society of Venezuela.

Urbina added that the national survey of public hospitals conducted in 2025 revealed a shortage of more than 30% of emergency supplies and more than 70% of supplies in operating rooms. The laboratories are “practically all closed or only doing essential things,” he said.

He added that the earthquakes “once again highlight the inability of the Venezuelan government to provide an adequate health care system that meets the needs of the Venezuelan people.”

Unequipped hospitals face a surge

Those who remain now face the overwhelming prospect of treating thousands of serious injuries caused by shattered and collapsing concrete structures.

Hospital del Oeste Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernandez in Caracas lacks the screws and plates needed for orthopedic surgery and therapeutic gauze to prevent infection, said Cova, who operates on broken limbs in makeshift operating rooms because potential damage from the quake has made parts of the building inaccessible. Doctors have even begun posting the medical supplies they need on social media, asking for donations.

According to the government, the earthquakes damaged or damaged 38 hospitals nationwide.

There is also a nationwide shortage of ambulances, forcing many injured Venezuelans to reach hospitals on the backs of pickup trucks, said Jaime Lorenzo, director of United Doctors of Venezuela, a nonprofit network of medical professionals. This is just one way in which ordinary citizens, who feel abandoned by the government, say they have been forced to shoulder much of the rescue effort.

As the chaos and trauma of the quakes begin to subside, Lorenzo said he fears a new wave of patients will hit the hospitals: Venezuelans, suddenly homeless after the quakes, have been without medication for chronic illnesses like asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure all week.

Questions about the government’s response

The government of acting President Delcy Rodriguez — who served as Maduro’s deputy until he was ousted by the United States in January and who became interim leader with the support of the Trump administration — has faced mounting criticism over its handling of the disaster.

Videos circulating on social media in recent days appear to show security officers searching through the rubble of collapsed buildings and stealing US dollars, appliances and other personal belongings, sparking widespread anger among Venezuelans. Videos cannot be verified by AP.

In response to the videos, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that it had dismissed and detained four police officers on charges of “deviating from their duties and taking advantage of rescue efforts and humanitarian aid.”

Several thousand remain missing, adding uncertainty to the total number and leaving families in agonizing limbo as they wait for days near collapsed buildings, hoping the bodies of their loved ones will emerge. A non-governmental digital database, where families can register their missing loved ones, showed that more than 40,600 people were still missing as of Wednesday.

On Wednesday, US officials rejected accusations that Rodriguez was politicizing response efforts and ignored widespread criticism of the Venezuelan government’s failure to respond to the crisis. Gen. Francis Donovan, head of US Southern Command, blamed decades of neglect in Venezuela, which he said “has made this more difficult for the current government.”

“It’s a huge problem for any leader to deal with a challenge of this magnitude,” Donovan said.

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