The United Nations is ramping up humanitarian assistance and coordinating international relief efforts following the devastating earthquakes that struck Venezuela, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pledging the world body's full support for rescue and recovery operations.
Guterres spoke by phone with Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez on Thursday night and expressed his solidarity with the people and the government of Venezuela, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general, told a news briefing on Friday.
"The secretary-general last night spoke to the acting President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez. In the call he expressed his solidarity with the people and the government of Venezuela following the devastating earthquakes. The secretary-general pledged the full cooperation of the UN system in support of the government-led relief efforts on the ground," he said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners are rapidly scaling up the response, conducting assessments and mobilizing assistance, said Dujarric.
"The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, allocated yesterday 15 million dollars from the Central Emergency Response Fund, all of this to support urgent life-saving assistance, including healthcare, shelter, food and water," he said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is supporting coordination efforts on the ground, facilitating information sharing, and working with partners to help ensure the effective deployment of international search-and-rescue teams.
"A total of 30 of these teams are deploying to Venezuela with more than 1,600 personnel, 100 dogs coming from a wide variety of countries," said Dujarric.
The UN Disaster and Assessment teams have also been mobilized, along with a four-member operational support team. Several OCHA staff are also being deployed to Venezuela.
Meanwhile, the World Food Program (WFP) said that the first 72 hours are crucial for search and rescue, as well as critical for positioning food and other relief supplies that people will need in the coming days.
"WFP says it has enough to feed more than 10,000 families for two months in Venezuela," said Dujarric.
The WFP teams are looking for the fastest way to mobilize further food assistance and are establishing response priorities across the affected areas, according to Dujarric.
For its part, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that an estimated 3.9 million children live in the areas affected by the earthquakes, putting thousands of children and their families at even further risk.
UNICEF is on the ground and coordinating closely with national authorities, the broader system, local and international partners to assess needs and support a rapid, effective response.
To enable immediate action, UNICEF has allocated 1.5 million dollars from its internal resources and one million dollars from the Global Humanitarian Thematic Funding, according to the spokesman. Furthermore, rescue forces from around the world can be seen gathering at an airport in Panama, hoping to reach the earthquake-stricken areas and begin rescue operations soon.
The two powerful earthquakes, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 and striking just 40 seconds apart late on Wednesday, were the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century and the deadliest in decades.
The death toll from the earthquakes had risen to 920, Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said on Friday.
As of midday on Friday, about 50,000 people had remained missing, according to a website established to receive reports of people still unaccounted for.
Also on Friday, Fletcher warned that "it is a massive job to go through the rubble" and the death toll is likely to continue to rise.
UN mobilizes relief response, pledges support after devastating Venezuela earthquakes
