SANTO DOMINGO.– The latest data provided by official sources on Friday afternoon indicates that at least 920 people have died and 3,360 have been injured, following the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck Venezuela on Wednesday, June 24, reported the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez.
For his part, Tom Fletcher, the UN's top humanitarian aid official, estimates that there are "more than 50,000 missing persons.".
Hundreds of volunteers are working tirelessly to collect supplies for affected families. Images broadcast on state television showed people gathering in public squares and government buildings to donate water, toilet paper, mattresses, clothing, medical equipment, and non-perishable food, reports the newspaper El Mundo.
Similar initiatives have spread throughout the country. In the city of Bolívar, volunteers set up tents in public squares to collect supplies that will be sent to Caracas, while authorities in the western state of Zulia opened collection centers for residents to donate aid.
The government sent a fleet of 26 trucks loaded with more than 2,600 tons of food to La Guaira, the Interior Ministry reported on Instagram. The supplies are intended for nearly 70,000 families in that coastal state, it added.
International search and rescue teams from at least 17 countries are beginning to mobilize to help. The Peruvian government announced Friday that it will send humanitarian aid and rescue teams to Venezuela following Wednesday's devastating earthquakes that left at least 920 dead, according to the Peruvian Presidency. "I have ordered the dispatch of a team of Peruvian rescuers, with specialized search and rescue dogs, as well as humanitarian aid via a Peruvian Air Force plane," said interim President José María Balcázar in a statement.
Dominican Republic
The Minister of Public Health, Víctor Atallah, announced this Friday that the Dominican Republic will reinforce its support for Venezuela by sending a mobile hospital and new specialized equipment that will be integrated into the rescue and assistance efforts following the strong earthquakes that affected that country on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 24.
The official indicated that a total of 21 people will depart for Venezuelan territory to join the operational search and rescue efforts, following the arrival of a first group by order of President Luis Abinader.
"The Dominican people, at the instruction of the president, were the first country to arrive in Venezuela yesterday; they sent a rescue team to assess and assist," the minister said when approached by journalists, after leading the "More Health and Wellbeing" medical campaign in the Hermanas Mirabal province.
