Venezuela earthquake death toll rises to 2,295

WHO warns of a scenario of chaos in Venezuela and risk of epidemics after the earthquakes
The death toll from the earthquake in Venezuela rose to 2,295 this Wednesday (1st), according to the country's government. More than 11,000 people were reported injured.
The president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, said in his most recent statement that there are 12,841 people affected by the double tremor of June 24. The previous balance, on Tuesday, recorded 1,943 deaths and 10,571 injuries.
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Experts say that this number represents a significant underreporting, as more bodies are removed from the rubble daily and morgues have difficulties in dealing with the large number of victims.
Humanitarian organizations warned on Tuesday (30) that the country's fragile health system Venezuela is being pushed to the limit nearly a week after two powerful earthquakes, with damaged and understaffed hospitals overwhelmed by injuries and infectious diseases spreading in the disaster zone.
Meanwhile, the number of official rescues has fallen sharply in the past three days, according to the government, from 5,380 people saved in the first two days after the earthquakes to just four people found alive on Monday by authorities.
The crucial period for finding earthquake survivors is typically 48 to 72 hours, but it is possible to survive longer, depending on factors such as temperature and access to water or food.
People receive supplies from volunteers in La Guaira, Venezuela, on June 30, 2026
Matias Delacroix/AP Photo
The only survivor rescued on Tuesday by sunset was a child who was trapped for six days under a collapsed building, said Jorge Rodríguez, president of the Assembly National.
These numbers do not include the many rescues carried out across the country by groups of volunteers who, frustrated by the government's slow response, mobilized to save their trapped loved ones days before specialized international teams arrived.
Among the survivors, a humanitarian crisis unfolds. United Nations agencies estimated, on Tuesday, that the earthquake accumulated 1.2 million tons of rubble, including destroyed buildings and personal belongings. They expressed concern about the health effects of thousands of homeless people who have been sleeping outside or in overcrowded and unsanitary shelters for days.
A health system in crisis
The Venezuelan health system, overwhelmed by decades of underinvestment and years of economic crisis, is "under extreme pressure, with facilities operating beyond capacity to meet the growing demand for trauma cases," said Christian Lindmeier, spokesman for the World Health Organization, at a press conference in Geneva.
Venezuelan authorities say more than 15,800 people have been affected by the earthquakes - a number that reflects the official number of displaced people, UN refugee agency spokeswoman Carlotta Wolf said on Tuesday.
Newly displaced Venezuelans are sleeping in cars, parks and other places.
Wolf said that number will continue to rise. Many of those displaced in the hardest-hit state of La Guaira, located on the coastal outskirts of the capital Caracas, suffer from widespread food shortages, she said.
Without access to toilets, showers or soap, displaced Venezuelans have also become increasingly vulnerable to outbreaks of preventable diseases such as measles due to low population vaccination rates, Lindmeier said, adding that conditions are ripe for the spread of waterborne infections such as dengue fever, yellow fever and malaria.
Residents sift through the rubble of a building that collapsed during earthquakes in La Guaira, Venezuela, on Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo
According to the government, last week's earthquakes damaged or compromised 38 hospitals across the country. The WHO said it has already assessed 21 of these facilities, three of which are no longer in operation. Another six structures suffered damage and the rest are now collapsing due to the large number of injuries.
Many medical specialists are missing in the rubble, including those responsible for maternal care in La Guaira, the WHO said, worsening the challenges facing the health system in a country from which 8 million people, including many doctors and nurses, have fled in recent years.
"The findings reveal a chaotic service delivery and flow of patients, marked by overcrowding, increasing delays surgical procedures... and a failure in biosecurity measures," Lindmeier said.
A growing presence of non-governmental organizations was noticeable on Tuesday in La Guaira and adjacent communities, with tents from the Red Cross, the World Food Program and other organizations set up on promenades, seaside esplanades and sports facilities.
People lined up all day in the scorching sun to receive toiletries, food, medicines and face masks free.
Struggle to understand the true impact
With the government remaining silent on victims and survivors and not releasing an official number of missing people, ordinary Venezuelans are struggling to find their family members.
Many people have turned to WhatsApp groups and non-governmental digital databases to report the disappearance of their loved ones. One of these records listed at least 43,220 people as missing.
Aerial view of Caraballeda, in La Guaira state, Venezuela, on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, following consecutive earthquakes
Miguel Medina/Pool Photo via AP
In his daily television update on victims, Jorge Rodríguez, brother of interim president Delcy Rodríguez, said the number official death toll was 1,943 and the number of injured was 10,571 as of Tuesday, and asked the public to share only government information.
But their numbers have left thousands of Venezuelans with no known whereabouts. He said the government estimated that there were about 30,000 people in the hardest-hit areas of La Guaira state at the time of the earthquake, and that about 20,000 of them managed to escape the region or were later rescued.
NASA estimates that almost 59,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed by the earthquakes, which would bring the number of missing to about 1,943.
The number of people affected by the earthquakes reaches in the hundreds of thousands. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported on Tuesday that 680,000 children are in need of humanitarian assistance across the country.

Source: G1