Source: Save the Children
Children in Venezuela are living on the streets and in informal tented camps, underscoring the urgent need for support, as rescue teams work round the clock to free people from the rubble with about 50,000 reported missing, Save the Children said [1].
Save the Children staff have described how rescue teams are pulling children out of the rubble, while some children are wandering the streets and going into hospitals in shock.
The country’s deadliest earthquakes in more than a century have driven children from their homes, with some now living in informal tented camps in parks or on the street, close to damaged buildings they cannot return to.
Nearly five days after the twin 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes struck, frequent aftershocks on the ground are being felt by Save the Children teams in Venezuela, causing further terror for children.
Protection is an immediate and critical priority for children, especially for those who lose contact with caregivers on the streets or in informal camps.
Save the Children will be working with partners and authorities to support family tracing and reunification, including identifying unaccompanied children and referring them to the appropriate protection services. The humanitarian and child rights organisation is providing emergency mental health and psychosocial support and will be operating mobile safe spaces where children are protected and can get emergency items, such as tents and hygiene kits, and learning activities while schools remain closed.
The UN has said up to 6.76 million people could be affected by the devastating earthquakes with up to 2 million people in Caracas alone impacted, underscoring the vast humanitarian impact of the disaster as assessments continue and rescue teams work around the clock to save people trapped under collapsed buildings.
Critical infrastructure remains severely disrupted, including electricity, water, telecommunications and transport, while hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties and schools in affected areas are closed.
Fatima Andraca, Save the Children’s Country Director in Venezuela, said:
“We are seeing so many families on the street – families who have lost everything and cannot return to the shattered ruins of their homes. There is so much uncertainty for them about the hours and days ahead.
“Fear, stress, and overwhelming sadness are everywhere. Families come to me to share their stories with tears in their eyes. Some are still frantically searching for relatives or friends. For children, the loss of everything familiar and comforting are immeasurable.
“Protection and psychosocial support are urgent priorities for children. With so many people dead, injured or missing, children will urgently need long term support to ensure that this devastating disaster does not cause long lasting mental harm.”
Save the Children is on the ground in Venezuela, working with authorities and local partners and will be providing primary healthcare through mobile clinics, distributing hygiene kits, clean water and essential supplies, and setting up safe spaces where children can access mental health support and continue learning while schools remain closed. The organisation will be also supporting nutrition screening, child protection services, and tracing and reuniting separated families.
Save the Children is an independent, impartial child rights organisation with our focus on the urgent humanitarian needs of children and families in Venezuela.
Save the Children has been working in Venezuela since 2019. Since the humanitarian crisis started to rapidly deteriorate a few years ago, Save the Children has been scaling up its response through local partners to support the increasing number of children in need. Save the Children is delivering health, nutrition, education, child protection, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene and food security and livelihoods support.
Notes to Editors:[1] As of 28 June, around 50,000 people are still reported missing in Venezuela, according to an independent online registry for missing persons: https://news.sky.com/story/venezuela-earthquake-live-high-casualties-feared-after-back-to-back-tremors-hit-south-american-country-13557399?postid=11956228#liveblog-body