World Food Programme Ramps Up Food Aid After Venezuela Earthquakes Kill 3,535

Venezuela’s twin earthquakes struck on June 24 and left a death toll that multiple outlets put at 3,535, with Le Monde reporting updated official figures released on Monday, July 6 and NBC News saying the toll reached 3,535 as survivors continued searching for missing relatives 12 days later.

“As quake rescue effort winds down, Venezuelans are left alone to recover their dead Venezuelans are digging through earthquake rubble with their bare hands to recover loved ones as international rescue teams depart and anger rises over the government’s response LA GUAIRA, Venezuela -- When the high-rise where Noel Márquez lived with his family crashed to the ground and burst into flames in Venezuela's twin earthquakes, Márquez, who happened to be at his girlfriend’s apartment, raced home and called out for his mother, grandparents and siblings”

ABC News

Le Monde said the disaster left more than 16,700 injured and that the government reported over 17,000 people left homeless, while the UN estimated as many as 50,000 people may still be unaccounted for.

ABC News

NBC News described vigils in Caracas and Maracaibo, including at the Central University of Caracas where attendees lit up white candles to create the shape of the South American nation, as search-and-rescue efforts shifted from saving trapped survivors to retrieving bodies from the rubble.

The World Food Programme said the earthquakes, described as “massive, back-to-back earthquakes” on June 24, left a trail of devastation in the country’s northwest and prompted WFP to begin emergency food distributions to the most vulnerable impacted people in hardest-hit La Guaira State.

WFP said it aimed to reach half-a-million quake-affected people living in shelters during the first three months of the response and up to one million if enough funding comes through, as it scaled up food, logistics and other humanitarian assistance.

NBC News reported that Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared seven days of “national mourning” on Tuesday, while Le Monde said families continued searching for their dead as focus shifted from rescuing survivors to burying the dead and clearing debris.

In La Guaira, NBC News quoted a doctor volunteer, Raxmara Godoy, saying “Health conditions are worsening,” and added that she told Noticias Telemundo that the risk of infectious diseases flaring in the disaster zone will likely continue to increase.

BFM

The World Food Programme said it began emergency food distributions in hardest-hit La Guaira State days after the quakes and started installing temporary food distribution centres in La Guaira with United Nations partners.

WFP said it had over 3,000 metric tons of food already in-country, enough to feed more than 10,000 families for two month, and that more than 1,400 metric tons of relief from humanitarian partners were prepositioned at the WFP-managed United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot in Panama.

WFP Country Director in Venezuela Stephanie Hochstetter said, “WFP teams are working around the clock to reach survivors with the assistance they desperately need.”

As international rescue teams began leaving Venezuela, Le Monde said the damaged international airport serving Caracas was still closed to commercial flights and that authorities began burying dozens of unidentified victims in a mass grave.

“CNN contributor Stefano Pozzebon reports from Venezuela’s La Guaira, a tourist hotspot turned tent city for hundreds of displaced people after two earthquakes devastated the area nearly two weeks ago”

CNN

Le Monde reported that the UN estimated the quakes caused $6.7 billion in damage, equivalent to 6% of Venezuela's GDP, and said many survivors were living in temporary camps on the street, in public parks or car parks.

WFP framed the response as scaling up amid overlapping needs, saying the earthquakes pile more hardship on a country where access to enough food remains a top concern for 80 percent of the population.

WFP said over the past five years it had been the backbone of the humanitarian food security response in Venezuela and that in 2025 alone its food assistance reached 760,000 people across 12 states, accounting for 80 percent of the country’s food security assistance.

In the weeks after the quakes, WFP said it was expanding operations to other quake-hit states and supporting Venezuela’s earthquake response with food, logistics and other assistance as search-and-rescue operations continued and entire communities yet to be reached.