The Red Cross is ramping up its response in Venezuela after two powerful earthquakes left thousands of people dead, injured or displaced, a senior regional official said.
Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said Saturday that the death toll had risen to 1,430, with 3,238 people injured and 3,142 families affected by the disaster, according to Xinhua. He said the country had recorded 430 light to moderate aftershocks after the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes struck on Wednesday.
Cristian Torres Bermeo, regional deputy director for the Americas at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told China Global Television Network (CGTN) in an interview aired Sunday that the immediate response was focused on saving lives while preparing for a longer relief and recovery effort.
"The first priority for all the system now is search and rescue. It's true that the very first 72 hours are crucial. But yes, we can still keep the force on search and rescue. And that's why the Venezuelan Red Cross has begun with this from the very beginning of the emergency. And now we are adding more rescue teams from Costa Rica, Mexico and Colombia, who are joining the force to keep [on track]. These are crucial hours," said Bermeo.
Bermeo said the earthquakes had also created urgent humanitarian needs beyond the initial rescue phase.
"We have to consider too that there are a lot of buildings that have been destroyed, but also buildings [that] are so affected that people cannot return to their homes. So attending [to] people who [don't] — it's very sad to say, they don't have [anywhere] to sleep — is very important right now, along with the health capacities. We are deploying 2 mobile clinics, one from Spain and another to be confirmed in the next hours. The one from Spain is going to arrive on Wednesday. This is to amplify the capacities [for] health in [the] country. But also the Venezuelan [Red] Cross has eight hospitals that are working [at] full capacity. Of course, the capacity is not enough to attend [to] all the demand, but they are close. They're working 24/7 to attend [to] people [who are] injured," said Bermeo.
He said the IFRC was also looking beyond immediate relief to longer-term recovery and preparedness.
"For these efforts, the IFRC, the International Federation of Red Cross [and Red Crescent Societies], released, in the very first six hours after the earthquake, 2 million Swiss francs to attend [to the situation] and to make the operations keep going since the beginning. And after that, in the very first 24 hours, we launched an emergency appeal requesting 50 [million] Swiss francs in order to attend [to] a two-year operation, attending [to] this phase of search and rescue and the very first response, but also the relief in the coming weeks and months and the transition to the recovery phase, in which we are aiming to help people recover from this tragedy. But not only helping [them] to recover, but making them stronger for the next emergency that we know we will have, a next emergency, a big emergency; we don't know when. So people must be prepared and learn from this experience. Not only people in Venezuela, but also the system, in which we are also trying to, in this emergency appeal, make also the Venezuelan Red Cross stronger after this," said Bermeo.
Red Cross races to expand rescue, medical aid in Venezuela
