Following the severe earthquakes in Venezuela, hopes of finding survivors beneath the rubble are fading by the hour. As the acute search-and-rescue phase comes to an end, both the number of people killed and the needs of survivors continue to rise. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is currently planning assistance for thousands of people who have been left homeless by the destruction. The need for psychological support is also immense.
“People have lost their homes; they need food, water, and shelter” says Andreas Spaett, MSF project coordinator from Germany, currently in Caracas. “Beyond that, they need psychological support. People are traumatized.”
In the aftermath of the earthquakes, MSF teams donated medical supplies and medicines for 3,500 patients to eight hospitals in Caracas and La Guaira. MSF was already present in the country before the earthquakes as the only international non-governmental organization on the ground, which allowed teams to immediately fill critical gaps in care when hospital emergency stocks were depleted by the large number of injured patients.
As the acute rescue phase comes to an end, operational priorities are now shifting. Thousands of people in the greater Caracas area have been left homeless by the destruction. MSF is currently planning to support affected populations with mobile teams providing medical and humanitarian assistance. According to current estimates, more than 1,500 buildings have been damaged, most of them residential. Psychological support services are also being scaled up, as needs in this area are extremely high.
An audio update by Andreas Spaett is available for download below, as well as a BROLL:
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