MSF: Update from Venezuela including b-roll and audio.

Approximately 96 hours have passed since the earthquakes struck Venezuela. Search and rescue (SAR) operations continue, and isolated rescues of survivors are still being reported. However, the likelihood of finding additional survivors is decreasing rapidly with every passing hour. More than 2,000 SAR personnel from 44 teams representing 27 countries are currently deployed, and the SAR phase is expected to conclude in the coming days. Despite the significant national and international mobilization, there is limited heavy machinery.

The immediate emergency trauma phase is gradually coming to an end. Emergency departments that were overwhelmed during the first days after the earthquake are now receiving fewer patients, as most casualties have either been treated, referred to or have succumbed to their injuries.

MSF

MSF teams continue preparing and distributing emergency medical kits. To date, eight hospitals in Caracas and La Guaira have received supplies covering the treatment needs of approximately 3,500 patients. These donations have proven particularly impactful. As the only operational INGO present during the first hours following the disaster, MSF was able to fill critical supply gaps when hospitals had exhausted their emergency stocks.

As the trauma phase declines, operational priorities are shifting. MSF is continually assessing needs and hopes to provide mobile clinics at the rapidly growing number of informal displacement sites (IDP spontaneous camps) throughout the Caracas metropolitan area, where thousands of people remain without shelter following extensive structural damage. More than 1,500 buildings—predominantly residential—have reportedly been damaged, generating thousands of new IDPs.