Venezuela’s official death toll from the twin earthquakes of June 24 passed 4,300 on Saturday, July 11, according to the Guardian, which cites a Telegram post by National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez: at least 4,333 dead and 16,740 injured, with thousands more listed as missing. The paper says a 7.5-magnitude quake, the biggest in Venezuela in more than a century, struck 39 seconds after a 7.2-magnitude shock and flattened entire high-rise blocks, with most of the devastation in the coastal state of La Guaira.
State broadcaster RNV carries the same 4,333 figure from Rodríguez, whom it identifies as chief of staff for temporary camps. He also said 6,462 people came out alive, 86,794 families received help, 94 temporary camps opened, and 190 of 856 affected buildings collapsed or fell completely, RNV reports. It quotes him saying crews cleared debris slowly “to avoid losing any human lives.”
The recovery bill looks large. The Guardian reports that the United Nations issued an urgent appeal for nearly $300m to help 1.3 million people, and that the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction put direct damage to housing and infrastructure at about $37bn. Interim president Delcy Rodríguez asked for the release of frozen Venezuelan assets abroad, including about 30 tons of gold held under UK sanctions, the paper says, while many Venezuelans voiced anger at the early response before international teams arrived.
The toll kept rising after this story first ran. As of Aug. 24, authorities reported 6,509 deaths, according to UN OCHA’s Situation Report No. 34 (Aug. 27), which also cites a UNDP estimate of US$6.7 billion in direct physical damage, a far smaller figure than the UNDRR estimate. OCHA places the 7.2 quake along the San Felipe–Yumare–Montalbán axis and, citing the USGS, the 7.5 quake 17 kilometers west of Catia La Mar, off La Guaira.