The United Nations is preparing for up to 10,000 deaths from Venezuela’s devastating earthquakes, a senior UN official has warned, as a tropical weather system threatens to bring heavy rain to areas already struggling with collapsed buildings and thousands of displaced people.
Gianluca Rampolla Del Tindaro, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Venezuela, said the current death toll of 1,450 would “unavoidably and sadly keep on growing,” and confirmed the UN was working on the assumption it would need 10,000 body bags in the country. “I truly hope actually the number is going to be smaller than that,” he said.
Rampolla Del Tindaro said at least 2,500 structures had been affected by Wednesday’s twin earthquakes, most of which had collapsed, as he described the scale of the humanitarian operation now underway. The Venezuelan government is leading the response, he said, with international teams supporting the effort on the ground.
The warning about the potential death toll comes as an additional threat emerges for those displaced by the disaster. A tropical wave is expected to arrive over Venezuela within the next few hours, bringing heavy rain that could compound the already desperate conditions for survivors living in the open or in makeshift shelters after their homes were destroyed. Flooding and landslides triggered by heavy rain on already destabilised ground could further complicate both rescue operations and the provision of emergency shelter.
